Secrets of the Heart
by AnimeFanatic223
Summary: Shadow becomes human by day and himself by night because of a curse. When visiting Maria's grave, he meets and befriends a girl who is just like him... but he doesn't know, yet. Hidden secrets, love, and new adventures unfold in this story! ShadowXOC
1. Old Memories, New Beginnings

** A new story! Enjoy:)**

_** Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog.**_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Old Memories, New Beginnings**

The lone figure stood by the wall, a single rose in his hands and a dejected sigh escaping from his emotionless face, trying to figure out what to do next. He was by the entrance to a graveyard, all horrific and grey in its own beauty, tapping at the wall and getting restless. He at one time used to go to the grave of a long-lost friend every day and would always put a single rose on the little shelf… _just for her._ Today was different though, he hadn't seen or been to the grave for 5 years and he grew worried that her soul was unable to rest in peace because of that. He stayed in the shadows for a while, then he gathered up his old courage and slowly walked into the graveyard without disturbing the grieving people.

He was an attractive young man with pale and tanned skin, a masculine body, and crimson eyes. His black hair was at shoulder length with red highlights in it. He was wearing black jeans, black boots, and over his blue shirt he wore a black trench coat. One of his hands was in his pocket and the other one was covered in a black glove but also held the red rose. He always looked so serious but right now, he was sad. He never did show a lot of emotion for the past many years… not once did he ever change from being the gun wielding good guy to the heartless bad guy he used to be.

As he walked, he started to remember the incident. That was the day when he lost _her_… his only best friend to the military. How he wished he could have done something to protect her, but that was never to be. She was gone… it was her choice to stay behind and die. When her body was brought to Earth, it was burned to ash and placed in the wall with all of the other cremated bodies.

He wasn't there during her funeral, but somehow he knew about it.

'At least I know that she's happy to have her burial on Earth.' That was what he thought when he first saw the plaque on the wall. Thinking about it now made him twitch all over his body. He calmed when he remembered _him._ Well, he didn't remember at first… but his "friend" told him about it and he recollected everything. He now remembered the blue blur that was his double, Space Colony ARK… _everything_ was coming back to him now, even the memories of his "friend", Rouge, and his "teammate", Omega.

His last memory was of his gun wielding days and deciding whether or not he should be the good guy or bad guy. It wasn't easy being the good guy… or that's what he thought anyway. Another sigh escaped his lips and he stopped walking when he got to the plaque. The bronze plaque looked like it was embedded to the wall like the others… with a small shelf attached above the name that was engraved in it. It was the perfect place to put the rose. He placed the rose on the little shelf and stood there, staring at the plaque and whispering a short prayer for his friend.

On the plaque, though, was a name that read in big capital letters:

**MARIA R.**

Then it showed the year of her birth and death underneath it. He kept on looking at it, then he remembered the day that some "deranged hack" as he called him had placed a curse on him. He tried to shake the memory away but he couldn't. He stayed focused after a while only to say, "I'm sorry for making you wait… Maria." Then, as he turned towards the entrance/exit, he heard someone scream in a grieving sort of tone and shout out through brokenhearted sobs, "WHY?!… WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME YOU BASTARD! I NEVER… EVER… WANTED TO VISIT YOU! YOU HEAR ME YOU FILTHY, LYING SON OF A BITCH!!! NEVER!!!!"

He turned his head toward the voice and saw someone by a headstone with the hands on the headstone and the knees firmly on the ground. He suddenly grew curious, which was rare even for him, and walked towards the grieving person. When he got there, he saw a blonde haired, girl who was bawling her eyes out _very loudly_ and screaming her heart out.

"I HATE YOU!!! YOU HEAR ME YOU BASTARD!! I HOPE YOU WENT TO THE FIREY PITS… YOU JERK!!" she screamed. After her outburst she broke down crying and removed one hand from the headstone so she could cover her eyes. The young man sighed and couldn't help but feel sorry for the girl; that too was rare for him. He kneeled beside her and touched her shoulder gently which startled her.

"Don't be afraid. I'm just here for a little while, so why don't you tell me what your problem is." he said, coolly. She spun her head around and faced him. More tears came out of her eyes as she said, "I-I-I-I'm sorry… I-I-I w-was causing s-such a racket. I'm sorry f-for d-disturbing the sp-spirits."

"I'm not here because of your loud voice…" he simply replied. He didn't want to admit it but… the girl was just so cute! She looked like she was 18-years-old with long, back length yellow hair, a high school uniform, Mary Janes, white socks, light skin and beautiful hazelnut eyes. He sighed heavily and added, "I'm only here because of why you were crying and cursing at a headstone."

The girl stared at him and hissed her words out.

"My boyfriend just died yesterday a-a-and… s-so was… his funeral…" She whispered while she said the last words that came out of her mouth. He nodded his head several times before he replied, "How did he die?" The girl removed her other hand from the headstone and sniffled.

"H-H-He died… in a c-car accident… h-he l-l-l-left me… that BASTARD!!!" she cried. He shook his head seeing her cry and simply said, "His death was not his fault, he didn't know he was going to die either… until it happened."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!" the girl screamed. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LOSE YOUR ONLY BEST FRIEND AND TRUE LOVE!!!!" He was shocked to hear those words and was hurt because of them. "I see…" he said quietly. "You don't need comforting or kind words or all of that goody-two shoes crap from me."

He stood up straight and was about to walk away when the girl said, "Wait." He stopped and looked at her. "What?" he asked.

"I'm sorry… I guess you _do_… know what it's like… to lose someone… so close to you."

"I know what's its like to lose my only best friend… but I've never _loved_ anyone before."

She faced him and looked up, startled at what he said to her.

"Never?"

"Never."

"Not even… a girl?"

"Never."

The girl took all of this in and then leaped to her feet.

"I can teach you!" she said, suddenly. The young man stepped back a bit, looking a little startled and confused.

"Wha-?"

"I… can… teach… you."

"What the hell do you mean?"

She gathered up her courage to stop crying and ask, "Will you… go out with me?"

_ This_ was more shocking to him than anything else. This was happening so fast that he didn't know what to do or say. He cleared his head of negativity and calmly said, "I don't know… We _just met_ ya know!"

The girl's face turned to a slight shade of pink and hung her head. He didn't want to see her cry again so he changed the subject by asking, "What's your name?"

The girl looked at his face for a while, then answered, "My… name is… ummmmmm… Maria He… drik… Maria Hedrick."

Hearing the name 'Maria' the young man's eyes bulged slightly and sudden flashbacks appeared in his mind. He held his head as if he had a headache and staggered a bit.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked a little worried. He calmed immediately and put both of his hands in his pockets while regaining his normal stance.

"Is something wrong?" she asked once again.

He shook his head and said, "It's just that… you have the same name as _her._"

"As who?"

"Never mind." He walked towards the entrance/exit of the graveyard once again and once again stopped when he heard Maria call out to him.

"I didn't get _your_ name yet! What is it!" she called.

He smirked a little, turned around to face her and simply answered, "Shadow." As the sun started to set, Shadow gasped and ran out of the cemetery, though he thought he heard her say something about Emerald Beach.

The moon shone in the sky that night and cast its light on all the lit up buildings in Station Square, giving off its uniqueness. Somewhere on the now lit up Central Highway, on top of the highway bridge, Shadow… now a black hedgehog looked at the sky and saw the giant silver plate in the sky along with the bright, twinkling stars; wondering about what to do now.

"If I wasn't cursed to be human by day and myself at night then I would've said 'No' to her." he said in scorn. "And why was I trying to cheer her up?! Gah! I have enough problems on my hands as it is!"

'_My name is Maria…'_ Shadow's mind echoed with what she said and sighed heavily. He then closed his eyes and thought about Maria… the Maria from his past and the Maria that he just met today.

"Maria in heaven… what should I do?" he asked mentally. As he was figuring this stuff out, the communicator on his left ear vibrated a little, causing him to snap out of his trance and answer the incoming call.

"What is it?" he asked in an annoyed tone. The reason why Shadow had a communicator on his ear was because he had agreed to be a part of Sonic the Hedgehog's team two years ago, before the curse. He hadn't heard from anyone in over a month now so this secretly took him by surprise.

"Hey Shadow, can you hear me?" asked a slight, high-pitched voice from the communicator. Shadow sighed wearily.

"Yeah I can hear you Tails. What's new?"

"Trouble that's what's new."

"What kind of trouble?"

"A bank robbery… in downtown Station Square."

"The one north from the base?"

A sigh came from the communicator and replied in an annoyed way, "Yes, the one north of the base… I've scanned the area, too and the criminal is at large there. I tried getting more info but… the scanner detected _huge_ amounts of Chaos energy… and crashed… I also don't want to send Sonic, Knuckles _or_ Rouge there so I thought… since you can control Chaos energy…"

"That _I_ should go over there to investigate? No… I have enough problems as it…"

"NOW SHADOW!!!! WHILE THE CRIMINAL IS STILL AT LARGE!!!!!"

Shadow flinched hearing Tails yell in his ear and replied in an almost shaky voice, "Okay." Then he turned off the communicator, put on his air shoes and took off at sonic speed towards the bank.

* * *

** I think this chapter is better than my previous chapters in my last story, but that's just me saying this. -sweat drops- Anyway please review and let me know what you think, okay:)**** If you have any suggestions for making **_**any**_** of my stories (meaning this story and my other one called 'I Would Do Anything') better, then send me a message letting me know please. :)**


	2. Getting to Know You

**Yay! My 2****nd**** chapter!! Thank you to everyone who read and/or reviewed my 1****st**** chapter:)**** I am soooo happy that you guys liked it! Enjoy:)**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognize… but I do own Maria Hedrick.**_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Getting to Know Each Other**

Piercing screams were heard in downtown Station Square as the criminal made his way to the vault in the bank. It was pitch black in the bank and the giant hole in the wall was clearly seen due to the fact that Station Square was lit up in the nighttime background (A/N: I'm sorry if that didn't make sense to you fellow readers.). The criminal could see in the dark, so it wasn't a problem for him to see his surroundings. He stopped in front of the vault, ignoring the screams and cries for help, and stared at it.

He held out his hand straight and clenched his fist. Blue sparks formed around his fist, getting larger and larger as he clenched it tighter and tighter. Soon, he opened his hand and a bright; neon blue ball of energy was seen in the palm of his hand. He harnessed the energy, then aimed and released it at the vault which blasted open on contact. He smirked a little and was about to enter the vault when a dark figure appeared at the hole he had created.

"May I ask what you're doing here on a peaceful night like this?" the figure asked. The criminal spun around and saw a black hedgehog with red highlights and wearing a pair of air shoes and white gloves, standing by the damaged entrance, looking pretty serious.

"Don't make me ask again."

The criminal growled and charged at the hedgehog. Shadow (A/N: Of course.) side stepped out of the way, allowing the criminal to charge out into the open and into the light.

"Who do you think you're trying to mess with?" Shadow asked. He faced the criminal and saw what he looked like.

"Whoa… you're a girl?" he asked very surprised. The criminal _was_ a girl in fact, a hedgehog too, like him and a certain blue someone. She was a yellow hedgehog wearing a pair of green camo jeans, a black tank top and had a pair of black-rimmed sunglasses on her face. She stood up, and once again charged at Shadow, but _this time_ she managed to land a punch on him.

"Urk!" He staggered a bit, but stayed in his position long enough for him to recover a little. A bright blue aura surrounded the girl hedgehog as she prepared for her next attack.

"Normally I wouldn't hit a girl," said Shadow. "but I show no mercy for someone who has an attitude like yours." He ran towards and double-punched the girl, breaking her concentration and causing the aura to disappear. She growled at him and tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms and legs firmly on the ground. Shadow struggled against her iron grip on him, then he managed to free one of his arms and grab her neck. He gained the upper hand by choking her slightly which caused her grip to loosen a little, then he freed his other hand and pushed her off of him.

She gasped for air when he let go of her neck and growled even deeper.

"You know, you're not much of a challenge for me… so why don't you just give up already?"

Hearing this, the yellow hedgehog grew desperate and clenched her fists. Once again, bright, neon blue sparks formed around her fist, getting larger as she clenched tighter. This time the sparks became an aura around her fist as she slowly stood up. She charged at Shadow a third time and screamed, "CHAOS….. PUNCH!!" As she said 'punch', she threw a powerful punch at him with her blue fist, almost sending him flying.

Shadow impacted on the wall of a building and practically destroyed it on contact. He groaned a bit and somehow managed to stand up. If it weren't for his immortality, he would've been killed by that punch along with the impact from the building.

"O-Okay… maybe you _are_ much of a… challenge for me…" He twitched due to the pain in his left shoulder, which was dislocated from the impact. '_Damn it… Tails wasn't kidding about the Chaos energy in the area._' he thought to himself as he jumped down from the almost destroyed building. The girl hedgehog stared at Shadow as he came down from the building and watched as he slowly walked towards her, holding his dislocated shoulder while doing this. '_Impossible. No one has ever survived my Chaos punch before._' she thought to herself.

"If you won't give up… then I won't either." Shadow stated. The girl gritted her teeth and the blue aura surrounded her again.

"You asked for it, hedgehog." she muttered under her breath. She charged at Shadow, but at lightning speed this time and kicked him in the ribs. Shadow flew back and hit a light post causing it to bend in two. He moaned and struggled to stand up, but failed miserably. Before he could blink, a yellow blur charged at him again.

Shadow predicted this and rolled out of the way. It was now his turn to attack as he ran up a building wall, jumped off at the right time to do a homing attack and landed one on her. Shadow's shoulder was still dislocated, so he winced in pain when he landed the attack. The blue aura faded once again when the hedgehog got hit by the homing attack as she weakly stood up and faced him.

"If you plan on attacking me again… then don't even _count on it!_" Shadow shouted angrily. The girl was about to charge again, but then she noticed his dislocated shoulder. Now it would be _much easier_ for someone to attack anyone with a dislocated limb, but for some reason… she didn't attack. Instead, she walked over to Shadow and placed one hand on his right shoulder. He bared his teeth at her and tried to pry her hand off of him, but she leaned close to his neck and nicked it with her teeth.

"If you don't need my help, then I don't care if I make your condition worse." she hissed. Shadow didn't trust whatever she said and started to struggle when the hedgehog gently grabbed his dislocated shoulder.

"Stop… struggling!"

"You let me go and I will!"

"Not gonna happen!"

"You lousy bitch!"

"Don't call someone names when they're trying to help you!!"

"Whoever said _I _needed help from _you!!_"

"Just hold still!!"

Shadow shook his head and continued to struggle against her grip. She gripped onto his right shoulder very tightly and tried to keep him under control. Blue sparks formed around her hand again, Shadow noticed this and went wide-eyed.

"You really do have Chaos energy." he said in an almost nervous sort of tone. The yellow hedgehog smirked a little and replied, "I see… normally humans and other living things would have felt pain from my powers, but you have the ability to _control_ that… can you?"

"You have no idea what I can-." He was cut off because he hadn't noticed that he had stopped struggling, which gave the girl a chance to pop the joint back in place. Shadow tried to hold in as much pain as possible, but failed miserably.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" he screamed. The yellow hedgehog flinched hearing him scream.

"Geez! You're loud!!"

"YOU THINK THAT CAUSING ME PAIN IS FUN?!?!?!"

"No!"

The argument would've continued if it wasn't for the police arriving at the scene of the crime.

"One day hedgehog… one day." The yellow hedgehog said. Before she could escape, Shadow grabbed her arm and said in an almost demanding tone, "Who are you?" The girl smirked and replied, "Wouldn't _you_ like to know." She broke free of his grasp and took off at sonic speed. Shadow growled deeply and left for the team base.

-----------------------------------

Shadow told Tails everything about the yellow hedgehog and how she "caused him a lot of pain". Tails listened to the report and thought it over. Then, he smirked a bit and snickered. Shadow could tell and was getting ticked off.

"What the hell… is so FUNNY?!"

The kitsune stopped snickering and replied, "I'm sorry, Shadow… it's just that… _you _got beaten by a girl! Hehehe… and Sonic and I thought that Knuckles getting beaten by Rouge in virtual training was funny!"

Shadow made a threatening glare at Tails, which ended the laughter, and told him if he told_ anyone_ about his battle… then he would strangle him to death. Tails gulped. '_He's scarier than Knuckles when he's in a bad mood!_' he thought. Shadow heard the old grandfather clock chime a few times and gasped.

"It… can't be… _not now!!_" he yelled, frantically. He rushed over to the window and saw the sky getting brighter and brighter every second. Tails just stared at him, looking pretty confused.

"Shadow… is something wrong?" he asked. Shadow grabbed Tails shoulders roughly and screamed, "WHAT TIME IS IT?!?!" Tails looked at his watch and said, "It's almost 5:59 a.m." Before he could pose the question as to why Shadow wanted to know, the black hedgehog zoomed out of the door while knocking down Tails and passing Sonic and Amy along the way. Sonic entered the base first and asked, "What's wrong with Shadow? He looked like his feet were on fire."

"Sonic! You can be like that too ya know!" Amy said a-matter-of-factly as she entered the base last. Tails got up and dusted himself off saying, "I wish I knew Sonic. I think he's gone crazy. First, he looks out the window and panics. Then, he asked me what time it was…"

"And then he rushed out the door, huh?" Sonic finished. Tails nodded. Sonic, the numero uno speed demon, blue blur hedgehog rubbed his chin and became curious about Shadow.

"Tails, call up Rouge and have her spy on Shadow… Shadow has avoided us every morning and I'm starting to think that he's _hiding something_ from us."

Tails nodded and ran over to the contact room to call Rouge. Amy Rose pouted.

"What can _I do_ to help?"

Sonic shrugged and replied, "I dunno."

----------------------------

Shadow had run at sonic speed for 5 minutes and the sun was rising even more quickly than expected. '_Damn it!!!! I'm not gonna make it!_' he thought while panicking. '_Where did I hide them? If I turn into a human now… I've just gotta find that duffle bag… quick!!!_' He was getting desperate now as the sun started to peek over the buildings in Station Square. He was losing hope when something collided with his head and sent both him and it flying towards the lakeside. Both hedgehog and the object tumbled into the water with a splash.

When the sun rose all the way, there was a big flash of white light coming from the lake and after a while… the glow slowly dulled and disappeared. Shadow had turned into a human now and was unconscious in the watery depths of the lake. He would've drowned if it weren't for someone's hand that grabbed his wrist and pulled him out. He regained consciousness a short while after and coughed up some water that was in his lungs. He then started to breathe again and looked around to see a blonde haired girl with hazelnut eyes staring at him, blushing.

"Maria?" he asked weakly. The girl nodded but was still blushing. Shadow wondered why and looked down at himself, then he found himself blushing from embarrassment. He wasn't wearing any clothes! Maria handed him a black duffel bag and turned her head away.

"I… found this caught on your arm… when I pulled you out of the water… It's still wet though." She said while blushing. Shadow took the bag from her and said, "Do you mind?" Maria Hedrick nodded and moved to another part of the lakeside. Shadow sighed and opened the bag to find a bunch of wet clothes in there. He chose and put on a pair of black shorts, a red tee shirt, black and white bikers gloves, black socks, and a pair of black boots.

He put his wet hair behind his ears and closed the bag. He then stood up and walked over to where Maria was.

"You can look now." He said. Maria turned and looked at him, then she smiled. Shadow's face remained emotionless as he asked, "What were you doing here anyway?" Maria stood up and looked down at her feet.

"I was on my way to Emerald Beach… when I saw you fall into the lake."

"I was knocked out and thrown in there… end of story."

"I didn't see anyone else there."

Shadow pointed to the top of the highway and replied, "I was thrown from up there… they even took my clothes too."

"You're lucky they didn't take your bag."

Shadow had to nod in agreement, even though he knew he was lying. Maria changed the subject by saying, "Shall we head over to Emerald Beach now?" Shadow nodded and whispered in her ear, "Thanks." Maria Hedrick blushed and led the way to the beach.

* * *

**Reviews, please. It really makes me happy to know that there are people who like my story (and if you guys don't, then that's okay too.). I also can't wait until vacation starts… in 3 or 4 days. YAHOO:) :) **


	3. Curiosity Almost Killed the Bat Girl

**Chapter 3 is HERE!!! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Shadows of the ARK, Feniiku, and everyone else who read and/or reviewed chapters 1 and 2. Enjoy:)**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or his friends… but I do own Maria Hedrick.**_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Curiosity Almost Killed the Bat Girl**

"No sign of Shadow from up here." The feminine bat thief said in the communicator. Rouge had been recently called by Tails, who told her to report back to the base for a special mission. After being briefed on what the mission was about by Sonic, she immediately left and started her search for Shadow. So far, she hadn't caught a glimpse of him yet.

"Keep lookin' Rouge." Sonic replied on the headpiece. "He couldn't have gotten very far… okay scratch that-"

"I GET IT!! I'll keep looking until I find him, okay?!"

"Don't start acting like that Rouge; just make sure to contact us as soon as you see him."

Rouge let out an exasperated sigh and turned off the communicator before descending back to solid ground. She looked around and saw no signs, no traces, no hints of Shadow anywhere.

"This is hopeless, where can he be of all places?" she muttered to herself. She was about to go back up into the air again, when she caught a glimpse of something. Something… shiny.

"Hm? I wonder…" She ran over to the shiny object and gasped in amazement.

"I WAS RIGHT!!" She picked up the object and happily turned it around in her hands while giggling madly. She was holding a blue emerald-like gem that had a bright neon glow to it as she twirled it. The glow grew dim and only shone slightly. Now Rouge is basically a jewel thief, one who's always interested in jewelry, and upon seeing the gem… well, she couldn't help herself.

"A CHAOS EMERALD!!!" she screeched. She became quiet when she heard footsteps coming in her direction and hid in a nearby tree (A/N: Just in case some of you readers are confused, Rouge is in the forest and the sun is in the sky.). Two people passed by the tree that she was in and all was quiet until one of them started to speak. The voices were faint, but Rouge had good hearing and heard every single word that was being spoken.

---------------------------------------

Shadow (A/N: In human form.) and Maria walked into the forest on the way to Emerald Beach silently and without caution. None of them had spoken since they had left the lake and every second seemed like a decade of silence to them. Maria Hedrick bit her bottom lip, holding something inside her and stopped. Shadow stopped at the same time as her and tilted his head to the side, wondering if she was okay.

"I'm sorry…" she finally said. Shadow looked confused and surprised hearing her say that.

"Sorry… about what?"

"I'm sorry for… asking you out."

"Why would you say that?"

Maria spun around and faced him, tears starting to form in her eyes while saying, "I was rushing things… I know we just met that day and we don't know a lot about each other, but… I wanted to BE with someone! I don't care who it is! I just wanted… I…" She fell on her knees and broke down crying again… from the pain she carried in her heart and her grief. Shadow sighed.

"Maria," he began. "don't beat yourself up about it… I have no choice since I basically owe you one anyway." Maria stopped crying and looked up at him. When she got to her feet, she suddenly collapsed and held her head while moaning at the same time. Shadow kneeled beside her and felt her forehead.

"You don't have a fever… a headache maybe?" he asked. Maria nodded. Shadow then did the unthinkable; he picked up Maria and held her bridal style in his arms.

"Ummm… what are you…"

"I'm carrying you to the beach."

"It's just a headache Shadow; it'll go away in…"

"You fell… I don't want you to get hurt."

"But…"

"No 'buts'… I've made up my mind."

Maria was surprised by what he was saying to her, but she gave in and wrapped her arms around his neck for support. Before Shadow started to walk forward, he heard something rustle in the tree next to them and looked up. Maria Hedrick grew worried and asked, "Is something wrong?" Shadow shook his head and started walking towards their destination.

--------------------------------------

Rouge flew at a fast pace and clutched the Emerald very tightly. She also looked like she had difficulty breathing as she flew. She was too confused about what she heard to stay calm.

'_That girl called that guy Shadow! Why did she call him that?! It's impossible!! No way could that man have been Shadow! _

_One: Shadow's not a human. _

_Two: He wouldn't get close to _any_ girl he saw._

_And Three: Shadow doesn't care about _anyoneever!!_' _Rouge yelled, mentally. She landed on a rooftop and tried to stay calm while thinking things over. _'Come on Rouge, pull yourself together! Deep breaths… in… out… in… out… okay I think I'm alright now.'_ She rubbed her head. _'Hmmm… what if Shadow really _is_ a human?'_ She mentally smacked herself. _'Scratch that thought right now girl! There is no possible way… hmmmmm… When I find him, he'll have to explain everything! Wait a…'_ She looked at the blue Chaos Emerald again and soon she came up with an idea.

'_If I can't find Shadow, then Shadow will have to find me!'_

----------------------------------------

It took a few hours for them to get to Emerald Beach, but they didn't mind the long walk… even though Shadow had carried Maria all the way there without difficulty. Shadow put Maria down and felt her forehead again.

"Are you feeling okay now?" he asked. Maria nodded, replying, "Yes, I'm feeling _much_ better now. Thanks." Shadow didn't say anything and looked out towards the ocean. Maria hugged her knees and felt the ice cold mist pass through her body. Shadow sighed heavily.

"Do you come here often?"

"Yes I do."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons Shadow… how about you? Do you come here often?"

Shadow shrugged his shoulders.

"Shadow…" Maria started. Shadow looked at her for a long while, wondering what she was going to say.

"… I want to ask you something."

"What is it that you want to know?"

"Why is your name 'Shadow'?"

"I dunno… why is your name 'Maria'?"

Maria shrugged.

"I also want to know something… about yesterday, when you said that my name was the same as someone else's… was or is there someone named 'Maria' that you knew of?"

Shadow was near struck by that question, but he answered it anyway.

"I had a friend named 'Maria'… her last name is different from yours, though."

"Does she live nearby?"

There was a long, depressing pause for a moment, then he replied, "She's dead." Maria gasped; her eyes grew wide with horror, her body shook with sadness, and her face was filled with guilt. She bit her lower lip and tried to hold in her tears, but failed. She let them roll down her cheeks and fall into her lap, all while cursing at herself for asking the question. Shadow sighed and sat down next to her.

He heard her sniffle and stifle a few sobs for a few minutes before brushing a strand of her yellow hair off of her face and gently wiping off her tears. Maria looked at him while pulling her knees closer to her body and became silent. Shadow wiped off a few more tears off of her face and said in a rare, gentle tone, "It's okay, don't cry anymore."

"I'm sorry… I understand now, though…"

"What do you mean?"

"This girl named 'Maria'… was your only best friend… the one you lost… I-I'm sorry…"

Shadow pressed a finger to her lips, quieting her down a bit and brushed another strand of hair from her face.

"Don't be… she died a long time ago. But as long as I keep the memories of the times that I spent with her before her death, then… to me… it's like she was never really gone."

Maria stopped crying and thought about what Shadow had just said to her. Then, she thought about yesterday… the day she first met him. _'I see…'_ she thought. _'He must've been visiting his best friend's grave that day… yeah, that's why.'_

"Me too…"

Shadow could barely hear her say that, but he understood that she probably was thinking the same thing as him. He chuckled a bit and asked, "Can you promise me one thing?" Maria nodded. Shadow inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled before saying, "Just promise me that you won't cry anymore, okay?"

Maria smiled and dried her eyes. Shadow took it as a 'yes' and looked out towards the ocean again, with a really rare smile on his face. Maria saw him smile and giggled softly to herself while a slight crimson blush appeared on her cheeks. Shadow heard her giggle and quickly regained his emotionless expression, blushing slightly. This caused Maria to laugh and playfully shove him to the side.

Shadow regained his sitting position and gently clunked her on the head with his fist. _'What is this feeling? I've never felt like this before… why do I have feelings for her? Have I gotten soft? What the hell am I even doing here?'_ He gathered all of those questions inside of his mind, closed his eyes, and tried to think of an answer to them. By the time he opened his eyes, he gasped. How long had he been at the beach and the sun was starting to set!

He looked to his right only to see that Maria had already left. Shadow sighed. He was left alone on the sandy beach, a bit of good news on his part. He didn't want to change back into his original hedgehog form in front of her and have her freak out… in fact; he wouldn't allow it to happen otherwise he would've left already. He put both of his hands on the sand and only watched as the sun set all the way down behind the oceanic horizon.

When the sky turned black and the moon started to rise, Shadow closed his eyes once more and felt his body change form. He shone with bright, white light and slowly changed back into a hedgehog. He opened his eyes when the light vanished and soon, he removed all of the clothes he wore when he was in his human form. He put them back in the black duffel bag, took out his air shoes and white gloves, put them on (A/N: So that there's no confusion, he put on his shoes and gloves.), and stood up.

"I finally found you Shadow!" a familiar voice from above shouted. Shadow looked up and saw Rouge; she didn't look too happy either. Rouge landed in front of him and roughly grabbed his shoulders.

"WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU BEEN SHADOW?! I'VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU _ALL MORNING!!!!_" she screamed. Shadow flinched a little and simply answered, "Around." Rouge gave him a dangerous glare and scratched his shoulder; it didn't bleed, though.

"YOU STUPID BASTARD!!!"

"How _did_ you find me anyway?"

"I used a Chaos Emerald to track you down!"

"A Chaos Emerald? Where in the world did you find one?"

"In the middle of the forest… WHILE I WAS SEARCHING FOR YOU!!!"

"Let me see…"

"HELL NO!! After all of the trouble you put me through just to find you!... You better have a good explanation for thi-"

A bright blue shard of energy zoomed at a fast pace and hit the unsuspecting bat girl in the chest, cutting her off and causing her to drop the blue Emerald and collapse. Shadow caught her before she hit the ground and looked at her chest. Blood was quickly streaming out of the wound and dripping down her milky white body, staining her clothes in the process. Shadow's eyes grew wide as he put his hand above her mouth, checking to see how her breathing was, and felt her breath go at a rapid pace.

He didn't notice the Chaos Emerald that was nearby, he was a little worried (another rare trait) about Rouge. He quickly looked back and saw the yellow hedgehog from last night, her body being surrounded by a blue aura and preparing for her next attack. She held out her hand, brought it to her chest, then quickly whipped it to the side (A/N: I'm not very good at describing things, especially during fight scenes.). Some Chaos energy from her aura turned into shards and zoomed at Shadow and Rouge at inhuman speed. Shadow quickly dodged them, picked up Rouge; carrying her bridal style, and ran at sonic speed towards the highway leading to Station Square.

'_Damn it! What the hell does she think she's doing getting Rouge mixed up in this?!'_ he angrily thought to himself. He kept running down the highway, looking back a few times to see if the girl hedgehog was following him, and didn't stop until he got to Station Square.

_Meanwhile…_

The yellow hedgehog giggled to herself seeing Shadow retreat and walked over to the spot where the Chaos Emerald fell. She picked it up and felt the power surge through her body and into her mind. She removed her sunglasses, never letting her eyes leave the precious blue gem, and saw the Emerald shine brightly in her hands. _'I finally found my Chaos Emerald! How long have I searched for my power source and I finally have it in my hands once again. My unlimited source, returned.'_ she thought menacingly. She laughed to herself and soon, it turned into a cackle as her aura grew bigger, stronger, and bluer.

_In a hospital in Station Square…_

Shadow paced back and forth in the waiting room, growing impatient and staring at the clock the whole time he was there. He had brought Rouge to the hospital a few seconds ago and only two minutes had passed since she was taken to the emergency room (A/N: I know what you readers are thinking. 'Two minutes had passed and Shadow's impatient _already?_' I know, I can be confusing sometimes.). Shadow stopped and decided that now would be a good time to call up Sonic and tell him the bad news. He turned on his communicator and pressed a button on it, allowing him to connect with anyone who answered the incoming call.

"Hello, Sonic speakin'."

Shadow gritted his teeth and said through the headpiece, "Hey Sonic. This is Shadow, can you read me?" There was silence for a few brief moments, until Sonic spoke up.

"Shadow! Where the hell have you been?!"

"Not now Sonic, I have something important that I need to tell you about."

"What is it?"

Shadow could tell that Sonic sounded annoyed and tired.

"It's about Rouge."

"……………"

"Sonic?"

"What happened to her?"

"If you can… come over to the hospital and figure it out."

He turned off the headpiece and sat down in a nearby chair, trying to find a way to calm his nerves.

----------------------------------

Sonic's jaw hung open and just stood in the contact room flabbergasted. He was shocked to hear that something had happened to Rouge and contacted the rest of the team. First, he called Knuckles and told him what Shadow said. Then, he called Amy, who was on a mission in the Himalayas, and told her to come back ASAP. Next was Cream, then Tails, and finally Amethyst (An OC.).

With that taken care of, Sonic dashed out the door and arrived at the hospital in two seconds flat. Sonic had to wait for everyone else to show up; after waiting a full hour, the gang had arrived on the Tornado, Sonic's blue plane. Tails was riding in the pilots seat, Amy was in the passengers seat, Knuckles and Cream were on the wings (Knuckles on one wing and Cream on the other.), and Amethyst was on the tail. Sonic waved to them and called out, "Hey guys! What took ya so long!" Tails landed the plane and jumped out of it while saying, "We… had a difficult time trying to stay in the air."

Eyes turned onto Amethyst. Now Amethyst is a white fox, unlike Tails, with black stripes on his arms that went in a lightning bolt pattern and had an attitude that was a combination of Knuckles's and Shadow's… in other words, don't make him angry. Amethyst shot a glare at the people who stared at him and remained silent while crossing his arms. Sonic shook his head and motioned for everyone to come inside. Everyone followed him inside the hospital, silently and without saying a word.

_5 hours later…_

A doctor entered the waiting room, surprised to see a bunch of animals there but he looked a little upset. He walked towards the group, holding a clipboard in his hands and said, "Are you all here for Miss Rouge?" They all nodded. The doctor sighed and said, "Well… I don't know how to explain it but, it seems that Miss Rouge is suffering from massive blood loss. She's lucky that her heart and lungs weren't damaged or she would've been dead."

"Will she be okay?" Sonic asked with a little worry in his voice. The doctor sighed heavily.

"She'll pull through… but we're not sure if she'll be okay, she hasn't regained consciousness yet."

Everyone grew worried, though Shadow and Amethyst didn't show it. Amy raised her hand and asked if they could visit Rouge. The doctor thought about it then replied, "You can visit her… just not right now."

"Then when will we…?" Cream started to ask.

"We'll let you know, just wait out here for another hour and be patient." The doctor gave Cream a lollipop and started to head back to the emergency room, then he stopped and looked at Shadow.

"One thing confuses me, though… how did Rouge get hurt?"

Shadow said nothing and crossed his arms.

"I'm serious… there were no bullets in her chest and there's a possibility that she wasn't stabbed in that area, so what happened?"

Shadow glared at the doctor and said, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." With that being said, the doctor went into the emergency room without asking anything else.

_One hour later…_

The doctor appeared in the waiting room again and told them that they could see Rouge now.

"But you have to be quiet, so that you don't disturb the other patients."

Everyone nodded and followed him to the room that Rouge was in. The doctor told them that they can visit her… one at a time. Amy and Cream went in the room first and later came out with tears in their eyes. Knuckles went in next and came out looking pale. Sonic was worried about Amethyst going in to see Rouge next, so he went with him.

Shadow entered the room last and walked over to the bed Rouge lay on. When he got there, he saw the still breathing form of the bat girl. Her eyes were closed; a blanket covered her form but only revealing her bandaged chest. A breathing apparatus was over her mouth (A/N: I don't know what you call them but, they're those clear things that cover the mouth and nose-I think-with that tube connected to it. I think they use them in hospitals.). Shadow could hear the beeps of the machine beside the bed that indicated that her heart was still beating and sighed.

"I'm sorry Rouge (A/N: _very_ rare for him… I guess)… I should've predicted that attack." he said, quietly. He didn't know if Rouge could hear him or not, but it best that way. He was about to reach out and gently stroke Rouge's face, but he knew that he wouldn't be allowed to. He turned around and was about to leave when he heard Rouge moan a little.

"Shadow?" she said weakly. Shadow turned his head towards her and heaved a sigh of relief.

"Shadow… w-what happened? And why does my… uhn!... chest hurt?"

Shadow whispered everything that happened to her in her ear which made her surprised.

"I can't keep the others waiting, but we'll visit again tomorrow."

Shadow turned to leave, until Rouge quietly said before she passed out, "Thanks Shadow… for saving me."

Shadow sighed deeply and just said to himself, "No problem."

* * *

**A little long… but I hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'm also sorry that there were a lot of author's notes, but I hope that you guys understood what was going on. Anyway, reviews are always welcome, thank you:)**


	4. Evil in Tears, Love in Candy

**Here's Chapter 4! Thanks to everyone who read and/or reviewed Chapters 1, 2, and 3:)**** Enjoy!**

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or anyone else you recognize… but I do own Maria Hedrick and Amethyst.**_

* * *

****

**Chapter 4**

**Evil in the Form of Tears, Love in the Form of Candy**

Shadow looked out towards the ocean as thoughts of confusion and frustration filled in his head. He had left the hospital a few minutes ago and had come to Emerald Beach to think things over. And since there were no signs or traces of the yellow hedgehog around, he knew that it was safe to be there alone. He sighed and looked up at the nighttime sky. It wasn't long before the long silence was broken by Sonic, who was curious about what Shadow was thinking about.

"Hey Shadow!"

Shadow didn't need to look back to figure out who was talking to him.

"What do you want?"

Sonic wasn't fazed by Shadow's harsh tone with him, but he didn't care about that now.

"About what happened to Rouge… how _did_ she get hurt?"

"None of your business…"

"Don't say that it's none of my business!"

"Well it isn't!"

"Just _tell me!!!_"

Shadow looked back at the stubborn blue hedgehog and glared at him. Sonic glared back, then he crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. The glare showdown lasted for two full hours until Shadow finally gave in by letting out an exasperated sigh.

"Fine, I'll tell you…" he said through gritted teeth. Sonic just smirked, knowing that he had won against his double. Shadow then told Sonic everything, starting with the bank robbery all the way to what happened tonight; he left out what happened during the mornings when he became human, though. When Shadow was done talking, Sonic just stared at him with a blank expression on his face.

"Wow…… that's really… interesting…"

"Don't… you… _dare_… laugh."

"I never thought it was funny. Geez Shadow, what's gotten you so uptight all of a sudden?"

Shadow didn't answer him and looked back at the ocean. Sonic sighed and walked next to Shadow.

"Sorry for piling pressure onto you…"

"Whatever."

Sonic smirked and playfully nudged him.

"Don't touch me!" Shadow yelled, angrily. Sonic backed away.

"Okay Shadow. I get it… 'no touchy'…"

Shadow didn't say anything to that remark. Sonic couldn't help but chuckle a little, Shadow was getting too hard to understand nowadays and drives everyone on the team crazy from time to time. He knew that he wouldn't get through Shadow's unlimited mental defense and that made him laugh. Shadow on the other hand, tried to ignore Sonic's laughter while thinking, _'I wonder who that yellow hedgehog was. What's her purpose? What's her reason for attacking people? What am I going to do?' _These questions made him more eager to know about the girl hedgehog, but they also made him angrier at her.

Shadow closed his eyes and pondered about this over and over in his head.

"Hey Shadow!" Sonic shouted a minute later.

Shadow gritted his teeth and pretended that he didn't hear him.

"C'mon Shadow, let's head back to the base! Unless you'd rather see the sunrise, then you can see it from there!"

It was then that Shadow dared to open his eyes and see the first few rays of the sun rising from behind the oceanic horizon. _'Damn it!'_ he thought.

"Um... Sonic?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll… see you later!"

After saying that, he ran over to his duffel bag, grabbed it, and ran at sonic speed past a surprised blue hedgehog and out of Emerald Beach.

----------------------------------

The yellow hedgehog walked down a dark corridor and through numerous metal doors that were blasted open by some unknown force in a remote lab facility on an uncharted island. She had made it her headquarters some time ago and she knew her way to the main lab doors in no time at all. She just stood there in front of the huge metal doors, glaring and muttering things like how much she despised being here… again.

"Those science idiots were fools to think that they could terminate me… like Cedric." she said to herself. A neon blue aura engulfed her fist - the tighter she clenched it, the bigger and brighter the aura became – and shouted, "CHAOS…… PUNCH!!!!" She punched the door open when she said 'punch' and walked into the room. The lab was as big as a building with machines used for testing and DNA sampling. Super computers were lined up against a wall; a giant crystal orb was in the center of the room, glowing with bright light. The floors and walls were made of metal and capsules were lined up against the opposite wall of the super computers.

Even though the machines still operated properly, the lab looked demolished and wrecked like someone planted bombs here and set them off. Then there was a strange machine with seven slots in one corner that had lights flicking on and off every ten or twenty seconds. The machine looked like a capsule but was more elaborate and high-tech than the other capsules. Two of the slots contained a yellow and a red emerald-like jewel. The yellow hedgehog walked over to the strange capsule and took out of her pocket a blue emerald.

"Three down, four more to go." she said as she inserted the emerald into an empty slot. The emerald was her unlimited source of energy until she decided that she'll give it up for an unknown reason. She looked at the capsule for a while.

"Why must you torment me?" She tapped the glass and frowned. "There _has_ to be another way…" In her mind, a voice said, _'There isn't another way…'_

"Says _you_."

'_You know that it's the only way.'_

"What if it isn't? What if you're wrong?"

'_It is… trust me.'_

"No I don't."

'_You'll have to… _if_ you want to save your friend.'_

The yellow hedgehog clenched her teeth and balled her hands into fists; a blue aura engulfed her body.

'_Take it easy now… Pandora.'_

"NEVER call me _that!!!_"

'_Oh I'm sorry… I forgot that you have a new name now.'_

"Oh really?"

'_Yes… now can you please tell me what your new name was again?'_

"I'm not telling _you_!! You were the reason that the government took over Space Colony ARK in the first place!!"

The voice in her head vanished and reappeared in the body of someone else… someone who was in the lab somewhere. The voice was rich and deep, almost inhuman.

"Oh _really?_" echoed the voice. "And what does that have anything to do with your name?" The yellow hedgehog didn't answer its question, instead she pointed her finger to where the voice was coming from and shouted, "_You_ were the reason that Cedric died! _You_ were the reason his twin met her fate on the ARK!! _You_ were the reason that I became a criminal!!! And _YOU_ were the reason…"

"That you're still alive."

The yellow hedgehog didn't know how to react to that statement. Instead, she pulled back her accusing finger and bit it. Blood flowed from her minor wound and dripped down her arm before hitting the cold, metal floor. Her eyes shut tightly, tears flowed down her face like a river, her knees fell to the ground, and she was stifling sobs of agony and disbelief. She didn't want to admit that what the voice was saying was true. She had tried to hide that fact somewhere in her mind where she'd never find it… but it was no use.

A figure stepped out of the shadows and walked towards the crying hedgehog. The figure was a male panther with maroon colored cat-eyes and green stripes on its tail wearing only a long, black cloak and a red collar. His height was the same as a normal human being's, but that was just about all that was known about him. He kneeled in front of the yellow hedgehog, put his paw on her face and wiped a few tears off.

"I know what you're thinking about… You're thinking about how I betrayed your trust-"

The hedgehog roughly grabbed his arm and flung his paw off of her.

"_You_ betrayed _our _trust!!!"

"Of course, how could I forget our other brothers and sisters? How… ignorant of me." he said. The panther looked at the five capsules while grinning evilly. Three of them contained a pink echidna, an orange sparrow, and an indigo rabbit; all of them were asleep. The panther then looked back in the yellow hedgehog's eyes and glared at her.

"But don't forget that all of you owe me your _lives._ _I _helped you all escape from the military…"

"And you left Cedric behind."

The hedgehog's eyes filled with more tears that fell helplessly to the floor.

"_You let them terminate him._" she spat out those words as if it was poison. The panther just smirked a little, then… without warning, he pinned her to the ground and gnashed his teeth at her, growling deeply. The hedgehog wasn't fazed or frightened by these actions, but it didn't stop the flow of her tears. The panther stopped growling and just stared at her for what seemed like hours. Just then, they both glowed with white light for a while… then the glow faded.

In the panther's place was a man with tan skin, a masculine body, and messy black hair with green streaks in it that touched between the shoulder blades. His eyes were the same color, though. In the yellow hedgehog's place was a girl with long, blonde hair and light skin. They both looked like they were 18 years old. They both blushed a crimson color when they saw that they both weren't wearing any clothes; except that the man was wearing a cloak and collar, but nothing else.

The girl on the other hand wasn't wearing anything because the clothes she wore when she was a hedgehog were too small and tore off easily. The man got off of the girl and said, "Blasted sun!... Did we ask for _this _to happen? Are you going to say that _I'm_ the reason we're cursed? Well?!"

The girl regained her normal position and calmly, but sadly said, "No."

"What happened back then was a mistake…"

"You helped the military attack innocent people…"

"For the last time, I was forced to help!"

"Coward."  
"Watch your mouth! And don't forget what I promised you!"

"I won't… I'm sorry, Silva."

The man smirked and gently patted her on the head.

"Good girl."

Silva stood up and was about to blend in with the shadows again when the girl said, "Wait… I also have good news for you."

He looked back at her and nodded.

"I think… I found one of our missing brethren."

Silva smirked.

"Who?"

"It's…"

----------------------------------------

The sun shone high in the sky in downtown Station Square when morning came. A piercing scream was heard somewhere in the city. Shadow - now human - heard the scream from on top of the highway bridge and sighed. Before he turned into a human, he had evaded Sonic, who was chasing after him, and ran to the bridge… after the transformation; he quickly put on a black shirt, blue jeans and a couple of wristbands. He was lucky that no one knew he was up there.

He was also lucky that he didn't kill himself when he jumped off of the bridge. He earned another point for good luck when he landed on the ground and had enough strength left to run back to Station Square.

'_Today must be my lucky day.'_ he thought. Shadow had just entered the city when he heard the scream again.

'_It's not coming from the hospital, that's for sure… so it can't be Rouge. Amy can probably handle anything if it involves Sonic… hmm…' _He thought this over for a while until he realized whose scream it was.

"Cream!" he said to himself. Before anyone knew it, Shadow ran towards downtown Station Square and headed to where the scream was. The scream led him to an alleyway, where a brutal crime was taking place. Most of downtown Station Square was deserted, so nobody except Shadow knew what was happening. Shadow hid behind a car that was parked in front of the alley, watching and waiting for a chance to strike.

_In the alley…_

"Come on now little bunny girl! Hand it over!"

"Why?… Why do you, ungh! want it so much?"

A man dressed entirely in black towered over a young rabbit holding a paper bag in her arms. The man grabbed the rabbit by the scruff of her neck and punched her in the gut.

"Do I need a reason?"

The bunny nodded, holding the bag close to her chest and tightly clutching it. He rammed her head against the wall several times before dropping her to the ground. He put his foot on her back, steadily increasing the pressure on her.

"Please… have… mercy…" the rabbit gasped. The man chuckled a little and added more pressure on her back.

"Not gonna happen bunny girl. I'm not one to be merciful."

The young rabbit managed to lift one of her arms and grabbed his foot. She used up most of her strength to move his foot off of her and stood up.

"What did I ever do to you?"

"We've been through this now and again for the past three weeks… You stole that Chaos Emerald from me and I want it back!"

"And you took Cheese from me!"

"_And_ I'll give him back, spare your life, and never bother any of you again… _if_ you give that Emerald back to me!"

"NO!!"

The man pulled a handgun out of his trench coat and aimed it at the rabbit's head. She shook with fear and held in a frightened gasp when she saw the gun. She clutched the bag even tighter and backed up against the wall.

_Click!_

The man had his finger on the trigger and had the safety off.

"I _won't_ repeat myself."

At this, the bunny screamed and yelled for help. The man was about to pull the trigger, when someone or something punched him in the face and sent him flying towards the dumpster. He crashed into it, but managed to stand up. His black hat had flown off, revealing his face to the stranger that hit him and the young bunny. His face was a deathly pale color, but he wasn't dying; his eyes were silver like the moon; his white hair touched half of his back, and when he rolled up one of his sleeves, there were black tattoos that were shaped like…

"You didn't see anything!!!" The man quickly rolled down his sleeve before taking off. The stranger picked up the handgun that the man dropped and tucked it in his pocket. He turned his head towards the rabbit and asked, "You okay?"

"Um… yes! Thank you very much!" the rabbit said and bowed. Shadow (A/N: Yes that was him.) said nothing and was about to leave when the bunny said, "My name is Cream, sir. Umm… can I ask what your name is?"

"Even if you did, I wouldn't tell you."

"Oh, okay… ouch!"

Cream rubbed her head and winced a little. Shadow sighed.

"Will you be alright?"

"Y-Yes… I-I'll be fine."

"You did take quite a beating from that guy."

"You saw?"

"Yeah."

"I see… well, here."

Cream reached into the bag and pulled out a green Chaos Emerald. She handed it to Shadow.

"Huh?"

"Take it, sir. I… I don't want it anymore!"

Shadow guessed that this was the Chaos Emerald she stole, but asked her where she found it anyway. Cream gulped and replied, "If you know Mister Sonic, then he was the one who told me to get it from that guy… three weeks ago…"

_Flashback: Three weeks ago at the 'Team Sonic' base._

"**I wonder what Mister Sonic wants to see us for. What do you think Cheese?"**

"**Chao!"**

"**I was afraid you would say something like that."**

**Cream the Rabbit kept walking down the corridor of the team base with her chao, Cheese, flying beside her. For one reason or another, Sonic had called them on the communicator and told them that he needed them to report back to the base for a special mission. What the mission was, no one knew. Cream and Cheese were about to find out, though. As they approached the big metal doors, Cream started to get nervous.**

"**I don't know Cheese… what if this mission is… dangerous? I don't-"**

"**Chao-chao! Chao! Chao, chao, chao! Chao!"**

**Cream stared at Cheese for a moment, listening to what he was saying. She smiled and the nervousness faded away.**

"**You're right Cheese. I shouldn't let this mission get me worried. And you're also right about one thing: We've been in dangerous situations before, like when we went to many places with Amy and Mister Big to find Chocola Chao."**

"**Chao-chao!"**

**Cheese was happy that Cream was being positive now and gave her a quick hug. Cream giggled.**

"**Oh Cheese! You're so sweet."**

"**Very." said Sonic, who was wondering what was taking Cream and Cheese so long to get here. Cheese let go and Cream gasped.**

"**I-I'm sorry Mister Sonic." Cream said, apologetically. Sonic crossed his arms; a scowl was on his face. Cream shivered a little and gulped while Cheese hid behind her and shook slightly. Sonic stretched out one of his arms, causing Cream to flinch and close her eyes. Sonic then put his hand on her head and gently patted it.**

**Cream slowly looked up and saw Sonic's scowl was replaced with his usual, playful smirk.**

"**You worry too much, Cream! I'm not gonna hurt ya or Cheese."**

"**W-Why?"**

"**Why would I hurt ya? We're friends, right?"**

**Cream smiled and nodded, tear droplets hung on her eyelashes. Cheese flew back to her side and smiled. Sonic rubbed the back of his neck and laughed a little.**

"**Soooooooooooo… how 'bout I brief ya on your mission?"**

**Cream nodded and followed him in the 'Briefing Room' for information on what her special mission was about.**

_**In the 'Briefing Room'…**_

**Sonic walked towards the desk and offered Cream and Cheese a gumdrop. They both declined the offer and sat in two separate chairs. Sonic sat behind the desk and folded his hands together. Cream looked at him with worried eyes, but was prepared for the worst.**

"**Cream… I need you and Cheese to get a Chaos Emerald from someone."**

**Cream and Cheese stared at him with confused looks on their faces. Sonic sighed and handed Cream a parchment.**

"**Tails invented something that'll help you retrieve the Emerald."**

**Cream stared at the parchment for a while before opening it and taking out a small black box.**

"**What is this?"**

"**A Chaos Emerald Grapple- something or other… I don't know what it's called, but it'll help ya with getting the Chaos Emerald. Just push the white button."**

**Cream pressed it and a small, mechanical arm came out of the box, reached out and grabbed Sonic's nose.**

"**Ack! Press it again! Press it again!" Sonic shouted. Cream let out an 'eep!' and pressed the button again. The hand let go and retreated back into the box.**

"**S-Sorry Mister Sonic."**

"**That's okay Cream."**

**Sonic rubbed his nose and added, "This mission is very important and…"**

"**And what?"**

"**Like I said before, someone has the Emerald and I need you and Cheese to get it back."**

"**Who has it?"**

**Sonic sighed and handed her a map and a picture of a young man with pale skin, silver eyes and white hair.**

"**I marked on the map where the guy lives and the picture… well, that's what he looks like."**

**Cream stared at the picture for a while, then looked at the map. She looked back and forth at the papers for what seemed like hours until she started getting dizzy. Sonic noticed this and laughed.**

"**Hey Cream, don't worry, you're not even going alone."**

"**Huh?"**

"**I'm going to send Team Chaotix with you… for escort and back-up when things get rough."**

**Cream nodded her approval and stood up. Cheese flew off of the chair and flew to Cream's side.**

"**Should I head over to the-" Cream was interrupted by Sonic, who was now standing up and clearing his throat.**

"**The Chaotix will escort you to the rendezvous point, so head over to the control room and do the mission."**

**Cream nodded and left the room with Cheese following her.**

"**Is **_**this**_** the place?" asked Cream.**

"**This place **_**is**_** marked on the map… so I guess… no wait, let me see that map, again!" said the crocodile detective, Vector. Cream handed the map to him and stared at the building that they arrived at. It was a 5-story apartment building with at least 20 windows, all of them had the lights off… except for one that was located on the far left side on the top floor.**

"**I'm bored!" complained Charmy Bee. A purple chameleon shushed him before peeking out of the bush that they were hiding in to make sure no one was around. Charmy stayed quiet for…. 10 seconds.**

"**C'mon you guys! I wanna play!" **

**Vector, without looking away from the map, clonked the hyperactive bee on the head and shushed him. Charmy rubbed his head and moaned a little. After a few minutes had passed, Cream offered to play with Charmy. He smiled and rapidly nodded his head. Cream giggled.**

**Vector stopped looking at the map and said, "Yep. This is the place!" Cream and Charmy were too busy playing around with each other to hear what he just said. Vector sighed when he saw them play, then he turned his head towards the chameleon.**

"**Check and see if the coast is clear Espio."**

**Espio nodded and said, "Roger." He then turned invisible and headed out into the open. A few minutes later, he came back and confirmed that the coast was clear.**

"**Good…." said Vector. He called for Cream and told her which room she would look in first. Cream nodded, flapped her ears, and flew to the top row of windows. Cheese flew with her and landed on the sill that Cream was now hanging onto.**

"**O-Okay Cheese…" she said in between breaths. "Let's get… to work…" She struggled to get on the window sill and managed to get half of her body on it. Unfortunately for her, the window was closed and nailed down, so she couldn't enter.**

"**Hmm… maybe there's another way in… somewhere."**

"**Chao-chao!"**

**Cream sighed and looked around; hoping that she'll find a way to get inside and the front door was **_**definitely**_** not an option. After an hour passed by, Cream was about to admit defeat… until her chao took the small black box from the pocket of her orange dress and flew to the rooftop of the building.**

"**Cheese! Where are you going?" Cream called out. Her ears were kind of sore due to the fact that she was flying for a long time to get to the window, so she carefully got the rest of her body on the sill without falling. She then took a few baby steps forward until she was able to get close enough to reach for the metal ladder that was near the window. She reached out her hand and grabbed the first rung, then she swung her body off of the sill and grabbed the rung with her other hand. She heaved a sigh of relief before grabbing the next rung.**

**Cream kept climbing the ladder until she got to the rooftop. Completely out of breath, she collapsed in front of a ventilation shaft, closed her eyes, and blacked out.**

_**At 6:02 a.m. …**_

"**Chao."**

**Cream slowly regained consciousness and looked up to see Cheese in front of her. She smiled and steadily got up. Cheese smiled back and showed Cream a green emerald. Her eyes widened.**

'_**I see… Cheese was getting the Chaos Emerald...'**_** she thought. Cream then asked Cheese how he got the Chaos Emerald. The chao happily pointed to an air vent that was already opened and 'chao'ed how he did it. Cream listened, then nodded when he was finished telling the story. Cheese gave the Emerald to Cream when she said, "Mission accomplished."**

**They were about to go down the ladder when Cheese noticed a flash of white light come from an open door.**

"**Chao! Chao-chao!! Chao, chao, chao, chao, CHAO!!!!!!"**

**Cream looked back and said with concern in her voice, "What's wrong Cheese?"**

**Cheese flew towards the light, which slowly started to fade a while after.**

"**Cheese! Where are you going!" she called out. When the light disappeared, Cream heard her chao scream and immediately ran towards the door. When she got there, she saw a man; with Cheese in his tightly grasped left hand, struggling to get loose. The man was hidden in the darkness; his eyes were visible, though. Cream gasped in shock and horror as the man's grip tightened around her chao friend.**

**His eyes darted at the green Chaos Emerald in Cream's hand, causing his grip on Cheese to tighten even more.**

"**Where did you get that Emerald from?"**

**The man's voice sounded quiet, yet harsh when he spoke. Cream trembled a little, not knowing what to say to him. The man's grip on Cheese loosened a bit, allowing the chao to take in a gulp of air. He took a few steps into the light, revealing his face and part of his body. Cream immediately shut her eyes and took one step back.**

**The man kneeled in front of her and roughly grabbed her left ear, yanking on it for a while. Cream's eyes snapped opened automatically due to the pain on her ear, managing to hold in a scream.**

"**Please… let go." she said while trying to pry his hand off of her.**

"**No." he simply said, giving her ear another tug. This time, Cream screamed at the top of her lungs. The man flinched before letting go of Cream's ear and delivering a punch to her face to keep her quiet.**

"**I didn't pull **_**that**_** hard!"**

"**YES YOU DID YOU BIG LIAR!!"**

**He punched her again.**

"**Shut… the hell… up."**

"**You jerk! Leave me and Cheese alone!"**

**The man stared at the chao in his tightly gripped hand for a few minutes.**

"**This… **_**thing's**_** name… is Cheese, huh? And it's pronounced: 'Cheese and **_**I**_**' by the way."**

**Cheese fumed at being called a 'thing' and started struggling again, screaming, "CHAO! Chao, chao, CHAO!!!!!!!"**

**The man tightened his grasp, causing the chao to stop struggling and start suffocating. Cream's eyes started filling up with tears. She couldn't stand to watch her friend suffer like that, so, without thinking, she ran towards the man, grabbed his left arm, and bit him. His grip on Cheese loosened a little, his attention drawn to Cream now.**

"**Bad move, bunny girl."**

**He stood up, faced a wall, and rammed her against it. Cream was rammed five times, but she never let go. Not once.**

"**You're a tough one, I'll give you credit for that." He brought his arm at eye height, staring at her for what seemed like hours. "Fine. If you won't give in… then I propose a challenge, bunny girl."**

**Cream glared at him.**

"**I'll take that as an 'I accept.'." the man said as he pried the young rabbit off of him. Cream fell to the ground, her body curling up in a little ball to conceal the pained expression she had on her face. The man chuckled a little. He found torturing this girl amusing.**

"**Okay then. This challenge is simple really. All **_**you**_** need to do is avoid me for one month… If you still have the Chaos Emerald (I don't care what day you have it.), then you'll have to give it back to me **_**without**_** any resistance…" He walked out into the sunlight and looked over the right side of the building. "… or back-up."**

**The man pointed at something when Cream got on her feet and looked over the side of the building. She looked at the area where the man was pointing and gasped. Right in the middle of a path lay the Chaotix, all in one pile.**

"**I noticed them when I was heading inside, so I took care of them."**

**Cream glared at the man, not caring that he wasn't wearing clothes now. He just scoffed at her and said, "I was in a bad mood that day. I had to take my anger out on **_**something!**_**"**

**Cream growled. She **_**never**_** growled at anyone before… in fact, she never got angry like **_**this **_**before! She couldn't hold it in any more. She had to hurt something, so she took her anger out on the man's leg. She punched, she kicked, she bit, and she rammed her body against his leg; he didn't even flinch.**

"**This is getting annoying." the man said, grabbing Cream by the scruff of her neck and bringing her close to his face.**

"**By the way, I forgot to mention that if you **_**do**_** give me my Emerald back… I'll give back your animal… thing, whatever it is." He was talking about Cheese. "… spare your life, and never bother **_**any**_** of you again. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"**

**Cream grunted a little and weakly nodded. She then noticed something about the man… something **_**familiar**_** about him. He had deathly pale skin, but he looked healthy. His eyes were as silver as the moon. And his long hair was white.**

"**Y-Y-Y-You're…" Cream stammered.**

"**I'm what?" the man asked. Cream couldn't finish her sentence because of the pain in her neck (literally). The man gave a 'Hmph.' to the rabbit before throwing her off the roof.**

_End flashback…_

"…I landed in a tree and found my way back to the Chaotix. I called a hospital and then Mister Sonic. I put the Emerald in my pocket for safe keeping after that. But, I couldn't avoid him for three weeks!" explained Cream. Shadow listened to this, no emotion appearing on his face. He sighed and took the Chaos Emerald out of her hand.

"I'll keep it safe for you, but I won't make any promises." he said. The bunny girl smiled and pulled something else out of the bag.

"I have some to give to Charmy since he's still in the hospital, but I'll give you one because you helped me." she said as she gave Shadow a piece of salt water taffy.

'_Candy?'_ he thought. He didn't eat candy, but he took the sweet delicacy anyway. Cream smiled warmly, clutched her bag, and ran off. Shadow stared at the taffy for a while, thinking.

"I wonder what candy tastes like?" he said to himself. He put his black hair behind his ears again and unwrapped the candy. He then popped it into his mouth and began chewing it, savoring the flavor. When he swallowed, his eyes went wide. The taffy tasted so sweet!

"Tastes like strawberries for some reason…" he stated. At the mention of strawberries, his mind reeled with an unfamiliar memory. A memory that showed himself in a room filled with plants, a yellow hedgehog, and someone else as well… someone that looked like…

"Maria?"

* * *

**The longest chapter I ever wrote. Wow. I'm sorry that it took me so long to get this up, I had major writer's block. Anyway, what is Shadow remembering? And what does the yellow hedgehog have anything to do with it? But what is her secret? Everything will be answered in time, I promise. **

**Next chapter: Knuckles finds a pink haired girl on Angel Island, but what is her purpose? Find out in the next chapter! ;)**


	5. State Yourself!

**Yeah last chapter probably got some readers confused. Again, I'm sorry about that. Enjoy Chapter 5:)**

_**Disclaimer**_**: Sonic and Co. Sega ©. All OCs in this chapter and in future chapters. Me ©.**

**Note: If you don't know what the French words mean, please let me know through reviews or PMs and I'll translate them for you. Thanks! ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**State Yourself!**

"It can't be… Maria is… gone. So who _is_ this person?" Shadow said to himself. A memory was flowing through his mind. A memory he didn't recognize. A memory from fifty-five years ago; the yellow hedgehog was in it. It made no sense to him.

Shadow fell on his knees, which had weakened when the memory flowed through, and rubbed his head.

"I don't… understand… this… one bit…" he said, his voice sounding faint. "The person in this memory… and that yellow hedgehog. What does it mean?" The rest of his body fell to the ground and before he knew it, he blacked out, the memory still reeling in his head.

_Memory: 55 years ago in an underground lab…_

**It was a normal day. A Sunday to be precise. It was also the same thing that happened **_**every **_**Sunday: Lab tests.**

"**Project Silva!" a scientist called out towards the waiting room. "You're up!"**

**A black panther sighed and stood up, looking for one second to see the other six projects before going in the testing room. There was silence for a few minutes, until an orange sparrow spoke up.**

"**I hate lab tests. All we have to do is sit around while they scan us and stuff."**

"**They're testing us to make sure we aren't **_**unstable**_** or anything, Love!" piped up a pink echidna, who had an amazing French accent.**

"**Whatever, I still hate 'em."**

"**We hate them too! **_**Sacre bleau!**_** You complain too much!"**

"**Complain?! I'll show you who's 'complaining too mush'!"**

"**Too 'much'! I said 'too MUCH'!!!!"**

"**All **_**I**_** heard was 'too MUSH'!!!!!!"**

"**WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT THE HELL UP ALREADY!?!?" hollered a white fox, who had bandages around both arms. "YOU'RE GIVING ME A HEADACHE!!!!"**

"**Calm down Hazard. Just take a chill pill for a few minutes." an indigo rabbit told the fox in a calm tone.**

"**Fusion's right, Hazard," said a yellow hedgehog. "You're too tense and too harsh with everyone. Just take it easy for a while."**

"**Can it Pandora!"**

"**Like I said." The yellow hedgehog turned her attention towards Love and the pink echidna, who were now locked in a glare showdown. Pandora sighed and started channeling blue Chaos energy into her hands. She balled them up into fists and softly murmured, "Chaos…" She raised her fist, aiming it for the wall behind her. "… Punch." She banged her fist against the wall when she said 'punch', causing the room to vibrate a little, which ended the showdown and everything else that was taking place in the room.**

**Pandora lowered her fist, smiling.**

"**Works every time." she said to no one in particular. She turned her head to the side to see a black hedgehog with red highlights, staring at the cold, steel floor as if in thought.**

"**Shadow…" Pandora whispered. Shadow's ears perked up.**

"**Did you… say anything?" he said in a cold tone, his gaze never leaving the floor. Pandora softly gasped. He obviously heard her.**

"**Ummm, no?" She raised a brow, pretending to look confused. The rabbit, Fusion, who was sitting next to Shadow, started gently rubbing his back.**

"**You can't hold it in forever, Shadow. You'll just keep building it up until you can't contain it anymore. How long do you plan on holding in your feelings?"**

"**Um, Fusion?" said Pandora. Fusion looked at the yellow hedgehog while he continued rubbing Shadow's back.**

"**Yes?"**

"**Shadow's **_**fine**_**. He doesn't need your comfort."**

"**Pandora, I-" Fusion couldn't finish his sentence, for the black hedgie stood up and stormed out of the room.**

**Shadow sat in a dark corner on the cold, steel floors of the underground lab. He wasn't crying, at least not on the outside anyway. Ever since the incident on the ARK, he hadn't been acting like himself. He was quiet most of the time, unless spoken to. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, soon becoming lost in his thoughts.**

"**Shadow?" someone said. Shadow opened his eyes, but he didn't look to see who it was.**

"**What do you want?" Shadow said in a cold, dark tone.**

"**I just thought that you'd like some company."**

"**I don't need it."**

"**I say you do."**

"**Why?"**

"**Because you looked lonely back here and I also came here because you missed your-"**

"**I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT A GODDAMN LAB TEST!!!!" Shadow turned his body around as he said this. He wanted to know who he was talking to now. What he saw first were a pair of legs, then he slowly looked up and saw the face and body of a young boy wearing a blue hospital gown. The boy was in a red wheelchair and he was around Maria's age.**

**The boy also had blonde hair and blue eyes.**

'_**Just like Maria…'**_** Shadow thought.**

"**Who are you?" the black hedgehog asked. The boy looked puzzled for a moment.**

"**Didn't my twin sister tell you about me?" he asked. Now it was Shadow's turn to look puzzled.**

"**Twin sister?"**

"**You know her. She was on Space Colony ARK with you and Professor Gerald."**

**Now Shadow was stumped. He didn't know anyone else who was on the ARK with him except Maria and the professor.**

"**Who or **_**what**_** are you talking about?" asked the puzzled hedgie. The blonde haired boy sighed.**

"**She didn't tell you about me, did she? Oh wait, I forgot. We were separated from each other since birth, so she wouldn't remember me. Even though we knew about each other through video messages… it doesn't really count, I guess."**

"**Huh?"**

"**I know that you know her… her name's Maria Robotnik."**

**Shadow's look of confusion became a dumb-struck expression.**

"**You know… Maria?"**

"**Yes. She's my twin sister."**

"**Twin…"**

"**Oh, before I forget, I should introduce myself. My name is Cedric. Cedric Robotnik- Hey are you okay?"**

**Shadow's face paled. Maria never mentioned having a twin brother… and here on Earth, too!**

"**WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"**

_End memory._

Shadow woke up with a start, the first thing he saw were his hands. His _human_ hands. He sighed.

'_What's with these memories? I don't understand. Am I still suffering from amnesia?'_ he thought. He soon noticed that he had bandages around his stomach and that he was sitting on… grass? When was he on grass? He remembered being on the sidewalk near an alley in Station Square, so how did he end up on grass?

"I see you had waken up." said someone with a French accent. Shadow turned to his left side to see a girl. Like Maria Hedrick she looked like she was 18 years old, only she wore a red and blue striped shirt and black sweat pants. She wore a green beret on her head, which was covered in soft, pink hair that touched her knees. Her face looked cute and innocent with her big pink colored eyes and sweet smile.

She had a first aid kit right next to her. Shadow just stared at her, asking just one question.

"Who the hell are you?"

The girl laughed, then she took off her beret and answered, "I'm Celestial. But my friends call me Celeste:) How 'bout you _mon ami_?"

Shadow looked uneased.

'_It's obvious that she's a French girl… 'cause I have _no idea_ what she just said. Could be her accent, but…'_ he thought to himself.

"_Bonjour?_ Anyone 'ome?"

"…"

"I see… _mais naturellement_ …" Celeste played with a few strands of her hair. "Maybe it's because of your injury."

Shadow's eyes widened. He whapped his forehead for forgetting and cursed under his breath. His next question was something that he needed to know.

"How did I get hurt?"

Celeste reached in a medical bag she always carried and carefully pulled out something wrapped in a white satin cloth. She removed the cloth around the object and revealed a black handgun. The one that Cream's attacker had dropped when he ran off.

"I found this in your pocket when I found you. Did you fall with this in there?" asked Celeste. Shadow slowly nodded.

"Something in your pocket must've pulled the trigger when you fell, because the safety was unlocked. You're a lucky man, though."

Shadow raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you say that?"

Celeste wrapped the cloth around the gun and placed it in her bag.

"I heard the gunshot while I was on my way to the hospital," she said. "I ran over to where I heard the gunshot and found you on the ground, your side was bleeding and you were… _sans connaissance._"

"What?!"

"It means 'unconscious'."

Shadow sighed and held his head. Then he asked her, "Where the _hell are we?!_" Celeste smiled and giggled at him.

"We're-" she began. Shadow waited for her to continue… but she didn't. She turned her head to the left, her expression looked alert.

"Stay here. I'll be right back."

"Wait…" Shadow started to stand up. "I'm coming with – OUCH!!" He sat back down and held his bandaged side, grinding his teeth together and flinching a little. Celeste sighed and gently pushed him down on the ground.

"_Ne vous déplacez pas._ You need your rest."

Shadow was starting to get ticked off because he didn't know what she just said. He glared at her for a while before he lay down. Celeste smiled before standing up and leaving him behind.

* * *

"Three weeks… three weeks… why three weeks? I don't mind that bat girl staying in the hospital for that long, but three weeks?!" a red echidna muttered to himself. Knuckles was doing his job of guarding the Master Emerald; everything was quiet. Too quiet.

"Come on Knuckles. Pull yourself together… Rouge won't be able to steal the Master Emerald this way, right? Yeah. _Nothing_ is going to happen this time; I'll make sure that it _stays_ that way." he muttered. Knuckles walked up the stone steps to the big green emerald at the top of the altar. It didn't take him long to get to the emerald. He gazed at the large gem for a while and smirked.

"Yep. Nothing'll go wrong this time."

Knuckles turned around and was about to sit down, when he thought he heard something. He looked around to see if anyone was there. He didn't see anyone. He heaved a sigh of relief and sat down.

"Must've been my imagination." he said to himself.

_SNAP!_

Knuckles became alert now and bolted up on his feet.

"Who's there?!" he demanded. Knuckles heard footsteps coming towards the Master Emerald now. He ran to the other side of the Emerald to see who was there. He was surprised to see a pink haired, cream skinned, teenaged human girl half-way up the steps.

"Who are you and… how did… when did you… _what_ are you doing here… on Angel Island?!" said the dumbfounded echidna. The said girl smirked and replied, "_Je fais des affaires ici. Gardien._"

Knuckles translated what she said in his mind. He learned French last year and was now happy that he _did_ learn a new language.

"Business? What kind of business?"

"_Je ne peux pas et ne vous dirai pas._"

"You won't tell me, huh? Then tell me how you got here."

"_Je ne comprends pas._"

"You don't _understand?!_ I'm asking you how you got here… on a FLOATING ISLAND!!"

The girl smirked, then laughed.

"_N'est-il pas évident imbécile crédule vous?_"

"WHAT?! I'm _not gullible_!! And _no_ it's _not_ obvious!!!"

The French, pink haired girl smirked; in English (with a French accent), she said, "If you're not gullible… then why did you let us steal your Emerald while you and I were talking?"

Knuckles looked confused for a second, then he looked back to see that the Master Emerald… was gone! He growled before looking back at the girl, eyes narrowed at her.

"Where. Is. The. Master. Emerald?" he asked through gritted teeth. The girl didn't answer. Instead she turned her head towards the setting sun.

"To answer your previous questions… I'll answer them. My name is Celestial and I got here yesterday using something called… Chaos Control." she said. Knuckles growled deeper. He then ran down the steps to attempt a punch to her face. Coincidentally, Celeste muttered something and held out her palm towards the enraged echidna.

_BAM!_

Knuckles fist had hit a green dome that surrounded the girl, foiling his attempt to punch her.

"C-Chaos Energy?! How?… Shadow's the only one who-"

"Can _control_ Chaos Energy. He uses Chaos _Magic_, not Chaos _Energy_."

Knuckles moved his fist off of the dome-like shield, still glaring at her.

"How do… you know… Shadow… you f-ing… French girl?!"

Celestial chuckled as the shield faded and said, "Don't call me a girl like I'm a human… you fool."

Knuckles was about to argue back, when the sun set all the way and the pink haired girl glowed with white light. Knuckles raised his arms to shield his eyes from the light. He didn't dare put his arms down even though it was like time had simply stopped. He knew that time didn't _really_ stop.

'_The servers are the seven Chaos…' _a mysterious voice said to Knuckles. _'…Chaos is power, power that is enriched by the heart…'_

Knuckles listened and wondered why he was listening to this. _'…The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos…'_

'I know those words…' Knuckles thought.

'… _But when the Chaos combine, only six will remain…'_ Now Knuckles was confused for he _never_ heard _this_ before. _'… while one disappears from the world.'_

The light faded and the red echidna lowered his arms to see a pink echidna wearing a white t-shirt with the Red Cross logo on it and a pair of black shorts. The said echidna also wore white sandals, white gloves, and a green beret. Knuckles stared at the pink echidna for a while, looking very confused.

"Who are _you?_" he asked.

The pink echidna laughed at him before replying, "I'm Celestial you stupid, gullible fool!!"

Recognizing the French accent, Knuckles glared deeply at her and charged at her for another attack. The punch was about a centimeter away from her when Celeste held out both of her hands; arms outstretched and screamed, "CHAOS SHIELD!!!!"

A green dome-like shield -the same one from Knuckles' first attempt- appeared in time to block the punch. Knuckles punched the shield with his other fist. That punch was also blocked. He punched again and again and again and he didn't stop punching until the shield wore off. Celestial stared at Knuckles with bulged eyes. Desperate, she took out a green Chaos Emerald from her small pouch that was strapped on her back, all while dodging the furious red echidna's array of deadly punches.

'_It's now or never.'_ she thought.

"TELL ME WHERE THE MASTER EMERALD IS!!! YOU BITCH!!!" Knuckles hollered, while throwing more punches. Celeste tightly gripped the Chaos Emerald as a green aura started to surround her whole body. She stopped.

'_Perfect!'_ Knuckles thought to himself. _'She let her guard down! Too bad, she didn't even fight!'_ He quickly put on his Shovel Claws and dug both of his fists into the ground. He pulled out a giant boulder and hurled it at the defenseless pink echidna. The green aura around Celeste grew larger and larger; with the green Chaos Emerald with her, it was as big as a house! She held out her palms again, arms outstretched, and closed her eyes.

"CHAOS…" The boulder was now at the damage point: where it was thirty inches away from where Celeste was and closing in. The Chaos Emerald glowed with bright green light at this point. "… WALL!!!" She spread her arms to both sides of her as she said 'wall', causing a _huge_ bright green wall of Chaos Energy to appear in front of her, blocking and deflecting the boulder back at Knuckles.

"Oh… crap." Knuckles muttered under his breath. The boulder struck the red echidna with so much force that he was sent flying… over the edge of the floating island and disappeared beneath the clouds.

'_I should've known…'_ was his last thought.

* * *

Celeste's eyes snapped open as she gasped for breath and fell on her knees. The green aura had vanished shortly after that last move she did. The green Chaos Emerald she held was slightly glowing now. Her hands fell to the ground, trying to support her body; she breathed heavily and wheezed. Sweat was matted to her forehead.

Celeste then heard soft clapping.

"Bravo, Celestial. I didn't know you had it in you." said a tough female voice from behind her. The pink echidna looked back to see an orange sparrow wearing blue ripped jeans and a purple sleeveless shirt that partially showed her stomach. The sparrow also wore a red and white striped headband with a Star of David emblem around her forehead. She, too, wore white gloves on her hands. She had a brown knapsack on her back and hiking boots on her feet.

"I-I'm gue-guessing that… y-you saw, Love?"

The clapping ceased.

"Duh!"

Celeste glared at the bird, but was too exhausted to start an argument.

"But girl, you have to be careful. You know that Chaos Emeralds drain all of our Chaos Energy. Silva knows that. Pandora knows that. _I_ know that! So just…"

"I know, Love!! _Mon Dieu. Mon Dieu._"

"Okay. You're freaking me out with that French stuff."

"_Je suis désolé._ I'm sorry."

Love just smiled and helped Celeste get back on her feet. When the pink echidna regained her normal stature, she turned to Love and asked, "You have the Master Emerald, right?"

Love thought for a while before replying, "Actually, Fusion has it with him. I on the other hand have found and captured Hazard."

Celeste looked surprised.

"Hazard? But… we all thought he died fifty-five years ago! There's no way he could've survived in the ocean for so long!"

"I know. But I found and have him with me. Even during the day, I recognized him on the spot!"

Celeste smiled excitedly at Love. Love smiled back and gestured her thumb to her knapsack.

"He's in here."

"He's not… dead, is he?"

"Knocked out? Yes. Dead? No."

At that moment, a calm voice said, "What are you girls talking about?" Both of the girls turned their heads to the right side and saw an indigo rabbit wearing only a blue, long sleeved shirt with tangerine cuffs. One of his ears had a few notches at the tip and his eyes were like pearls. The Master Emerald was right beside him.

"Fusion!" Celeste and Love said in unison. Fusion smirked playfully at them before asking what they were talking about again. Love rubbed the back of her neck and sweat dropped.

"We'll… tell you when we get this hunk of green rock back to Silva, okay?"

Celestial just nodded. The rabbit stared at them for a while.

"Weeellll… okay." he finally answered. At that moment the trio heard someone -not to far from where they were- shout out, "GOOD!!"

All three animals turned their heads towards the noise and saw a yellow, female hedgehog with black boots, a hot pink vest, black jeans, and a pair of sunglasses. She had a black hedgehog slung over her shoulder. He appeared to be either asleep or knocked out.

In unison, the trio said in surprise, "_Project Pandora?!_"

* * *

**Some spoilers in this chappie? Sort of. More excitement in the future? Definitely! Oh, and to all of the Knuckles fans: please don't hate me. –dodges stones and boulders thrown by all of the Knuckles fans- I promise that Knuckles will be okay (but who knows?)! Next chapter: Shadow goes missing and Sonic surprises Amy with a special birthday gift. Will they find Shadow before the fireworks go off? Will Rouge have to miss out? Will Amy's wish **_**finally**_** come true?! Find out in 'Fireworks and Disappearances! Part 1'! XD**


	6. Fireworks & Disappearances! Part 1

**Okay, before we go to the story, I'd like to say this: I don't have a lot of reviews. I have two reviews for chapters 1 and 2, one review for chapter 3, zero reviews for chapter 4, and one review for chapter 5. I love the reviews, but… what I'm saying/typing here is, I don't know what you fellow readers are thinking about my story chapters so far. Reviews really make me happy. Just thought I'd let you know. Anyway, on with Chapter 6!! XD **_**Disclaimer: OCs are mine. Sonic and Co. are Sega's.**_

* * *

****

**Chapter 6**

**Fireworks and Disappearances!**

**Part 1**

"Hey Rouge!" said Amy Rose as she entered the room in the hospital. It was Friday, three days before her birthday and she decided to visit Rouge today. Rouge was in a blue hospital gown, sitting upright on the hospital bed; reading this weeks' newspaper. Upon hearing Amy enter, she turned her gaze away from the jewelry section and on the pink hedgie. The jewel thief smiled, then put the news aside.

"Hey Ames. What's up?"

"Did you pick that up from Sonikku?"

Rouge laughed at this before replying, "Maayybe."

Amy giggled and walked over to Rouge's bedside. She looked at the nightstand and saw a green glass bottle with a tablespoon next to it.

"One day in the hospital and they're making you take medicine?" asked Amy. Rouge nodded. "Just at night, before bedtime. It helps me get better sleep."

Amy just nodded.

"Is it just you who's visiting me today?" Rouge asked curiously.

"Weeeellll… Amethyst _was_ planning on visiting you… but, that was before he disappeared."

"What? Amethyst disappeared?"

Amy sighed and nodded. "He and Shadow went missing yesterday. Tails tried tracking them down, but he lost the signal… just like that." She snapped her fingers to indicate the quickness. Rouge stared at her for a while, not knowing how to react to this news. Ever since Amethyst joined the team, she would just get uncomfortable whenever he was around or stared at her.

And Shadow… she always saw him as a teammate and a "friend", but that was just about it. Rouge sighed then flinched, her hands automatically holding her chest. Amy noticed this and helped her friend lay back down on the bed.

"Careful, Rouge. You haven't been in the hospital long enough for you to recover yet."

"Uhn!... I know Amy. I-I'll be fine… So, don't… worry."

The bat girl closed her eyes when her head hit the pillow, but she wasn't asleep. Amy shook her head before standing up and walking towards the door.

"Amy?" said Rouge. Amy stopped in front of the door, her hand frozen on the door knob. She turned her head towards Rouge.

"Yeah?"

Rouge smiled slightly, saying, "I'll see you next week. Right?"

Amy smiled.

"Yes. See you later!" she said before walking out the door. Rouge sighed and looked out the window that was next to her bed. It was dawn; the orange-yellowish sun started peeking over the horizon. Station Square looked so peaceful and serene when dawn approaches. Rouge's smile started to fade a little.

"Shadow? Missing? I'm sure he'll be okay; I mean he _is_ the Ultimate Lifeform after all," she said to herself. "But I can't help it… Wait, I wanted to tell Shadow about something!… But, what was it? Hmmm… I remember finding that Chaos Emerald and…… and what happened after that? I can't remember, except that I heard something from two people… but… what was it?!"

Rouge pondered over this for a while, trying to remember what happened before she ended up in the hospital. She gasped.

"The Chaos Emerald!!" She shot up in her bed. "What happened to it?!?!"

Before she could figure it out, she flinched and held her chest. Rouge coughed a little, flecks of blood coming out of her mouth. She had a bit of difficulty breathing and her vision started to go blurry.

"Miss Rouge? Miss Rouge are you alright? Miss Rouge! Oh god. DOCTOR! QUICKLY! WE HAVE AN EMERGANCY IN ROOM 216!!..." That was all that Rouge heard before she blacked out.

* * *

**(A/N: I'm going to time skip three days in this chapter. Shadow will appear in Part 2 since this chapter will involve Sonic, Tails, Amy, Rouge and the rest of Team Sonic. And to people who are confused, this isn't the Team Sonic from the Sonic Heroes game. Okay, now back to the story!)**

"Two more days 'till Amy's 17th birthday," said Sonic, 'X'ing off Friday on his calendar. "I hope Amy will like the present I got for her."

The blue hedgehog picked up a small pink box with a blue ribbon on it from his desk and examined it. He got something _really_ special for Amy.

"I _still_ can't believe that we've been dating for three years! 'Cause if we had never gone out together, then I wouldn't have known more about her than I do now."

Sonic smiled. He remembered it too well…

_Flashback: Three years ago at Emerald Beach._

_Sonic ran along the shoreline, trying to see how fast he was near the ocean. His speed was always the same: Speed of sound fast. He sighed._

"_I've been running here for a few hours and _nothing_ is happening!!" the blue blur shouted. "Geez! Why is that ol' Eggman keeping it quiet all of a sudden?!"_

_A year had passed since the Black Arms invasion and the number one blue hedgehog was bored._

"_I wish those black aliens were back here. _Then_ I'd find a way to beat the boredom… I almost sound like Shadow!"_

"_SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!!!!!!!!!!!"_

_Sonic froze._

"_Oh shit, it's Amy!"_

_He turned around and saw the pink hedgehog running straight for him. He panicked and looked from side to side. There was no way he could avoid Amy now!_

"_Damn it! Perfect time for her to find me here! Just perfect!"_

"_YOU CAN'T RUN FROM ME NOW SONIKKU!!!!!!!"_

_Sonic didn't know what to do, so he decided to let Amy tackle him._

"_I'd thought I'd never find you here Sonic! Thank God I did!!" she happily shouted while hugging her blue hero to death._

"_Great… can… you… let go… of me… now?" said Sonic, his voice a little high-pitched on the last word. Amy let go, a warm smile was on her face. For some reason, Sonic saw something cute in that smile of hers, but rubbed it of as nerves._

"_Did ya need somethin'?"_

"_Well…" Amy blushed a little. "I was wondering if we could… walk along the shoreline since we're here."_

_Sonic sighed. He didn't have a choice. If he said no to her, then she'd use her Piko Piko hammer on him. He didn't want to get Amy angry, for he had experienced her temper before in the past._

"_Sure Ames." said Sonic in best polite way. Amy's smile got bigger, then she removed her dress, revealing a cute red bikini._

"_What do you think Sonikku?"_

_Sonic had his eyes closed when Amy took her dress off, so he was pretty freaked out right now. She giggled._

"_Open your eyes you goof!"_

_He did. When he saw Amy in the bikini, he felt a warm blush come across his face. She looked so cute in that swimsuit! Sonic was speechless._

"_Sonic? Are you-"_

"_Youlookcuteinthat!"_

_Sonic panted a few times before he said, slowly this time, "Y-You look c-c-cu-cute… in that."_

_Amy looked a little freaked out for a second, but blushed a hot pink color when she heard the compliment._

"_Th-Thank you So-Sonic. I'm pretty s-surprised, because y-you never complimented me before."_

_Sonic gulped. She was right! He _never_ gave Amy a compliment before! He turned his head away from her a bit._

"_Y-Yeah. How about we go on that walk now?"_

_Amy nodded, then added, "After this, we go on a _real_ date, okay?" The blue hedgie stared at her for a while and thought about what she just said. He didn't know a lot about Amy now that he thought about it. He only saw her as a friend and sometimes as an annoying little sister following her big brother. And all that he knew about her was that she had liked him for a long time now._

_Amy would chase him every time he ran from her. That's how it had always been. That one date offer, though… he decided that he would get to know more about her…_

"_Sure, no problemo."_

… _starting today._

_End Flashback._

"A week later, I fell in love with her." said Sonic. He chuckled a little.

"Nothin's gonna mess up this time! I'll make Amy's birthday one she'll _never_ forget!"

And with that, Sonic put his present back on the desk and ran out of the room to see how the preparations were going.

* * *

"One more day until Amy's birthday. I hope Sonic knows what he's thinking." said Tails as he stared at his latest invention. It was a giant robot, bigger than Eggman's robots. It was equipped with cannons, missile launchers, and turrets. In a way, it looked like Metal Sonic only bigger and better than the real Metal Sonic.

"What _is_ Sonic planning? And what about Shadow and Amethyst? We've been searching for them for three days and we _still_ haven't found them! Plus, Knuckles disappears on the same day as those guys!" The kitsune sighed. "What are we gonna do?"

"Hey lil buddy! Wasup!" said Sonic as he entered the workshop. Tails looked over at him and grinned.

"Hey Sonic!"

Sonic smirked his playful smirk, then he ran up to Tails, wrapped one arm around his neck, and gave him a playful noogie. Tails laughed.

"So, Tails. Is it finished yet?" Sonic eagerly asked. The yellow kitsune freed himself from Sonic's grasp, replying, "Yep! The Tornado Titan is finished! All we need to do now is give it a test run."

The blue hedgie looked at the giant robot in amazement. He was impressed that Tails was able to build it in a minimal amount of time.

'_He's got a brain of a genius alright!'_ he thought to himself.

"Well, let's give it a whirl!" exclaimed Sonic. Tails nodded in agreement, then he led Sonic to a safe room, where a small control panel was. Sonic looked around in awe.

"You amaze me sometimes lil buddy."

"Quit gawking Sonic! We need to see if this will work. If it doesn't, then we'll have to cancel the finale." Tails said as he typed in something on a computer. When he was done, he walked over to the control panel and pressed a few keys.

"Password required." said a female computer voice. Tails cleared his throat before saying, "Cosmo."

"Password accepted. Welcome back Miles."

Tails sighed. "It's _Tails_, Nicole."

"I'm sorry Tails."

"That's okay. Proceed with target practice on the Tornado Titan, Nicole."

"Understood."

The kitsune sighed for the third time, but tried to stay focused. Sonic gently put his hand on his best friend's shoulder and smirked.

"Don't stress so much lil buddy. Everything's gonna be okay, you'll see."

Tails smiled.

"Thanks Sonic."

"Anytime."

Tails put on a pair of goggles and handed another pair to Sonic. "Just in case." he said. Sonic took the goggles and put them over his eyes.

"Ready Tails?" asked Sonic.

"I'm ready!" said Tails as he pushed a few buttons on the control panel.

"Weapon fire initiated." said Nicole.

* * *

"What do you think about _this_, Cream?" said Amy as she pushed back the curtain. She was wearing a sleeveless sunny yellow dress with a sunflower patch on the skirt; the hem was touching her knees. On her feet was a pair of orange sandals. Instead of wearing her red headband, she wore a couple of purple daisy barrettes in her quills. Cream smiled.

"It's beautiful Amy! It goes well with those sandals and barrettes." she stated. Amy looked at the price tags on the dress, shoes, and barrettes. She looked shocked.

"They'll all cost me _this much?_" she exclaimed. "I'm not going for it!"

Cream looked surprised.

"Miss Amy! They looked pretty on you!"

Amy closed the curtain.

"They do. But if you combine their prices, it's a _little_ too expensive for me to buy."

Cream sighed heavily.

"We've been looking around this shop for _hours!_ Can you _please_ choose something?"

"Hold on Cream."

After waiting a while, Amy was wearing her red dress, headband, and shoes again. She had the clothes and accessories in her arms.

"I'm going to go put these clothes back where we found them, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Okay. Oh and make sure you find yourself some clothes too." Amy winked. Cream nodded and headed off to find some clothes. Amy smiled, then she put the clothes back in their proper places. A while after, Amy found a pretty white dress and Cream found a cute pink dress. They headed over to the dressing room and tried them on.

Cream came out first, her appearance may be bruised and some areas were covered in bandages, but with the dress on, she looked like the belle of the ball. The pink dress was sleeveless with white lace decorating the edges. A pocket was sewn on the chest part of her dress.

'_If only Cheese was here to see me in this. He would've liked it a lot.'_ she thought. Thinking about that now, she looked like she was going to cry. But, she shook that feeling off, telling herself that her chao would be alright.

Amy came out last, saying, "Hey Cream! What do you think about this one?"

Cream looked and saw Amy in a white sleeveless and strapless dress. It was a plain dress, but it shone like diamonds. Cream smiled and gave her a thumbs up sign.

"Mister Sonic will love it!'

Amy blushed a ruby red color when Cream said that.

"I hope so."

"Trust me Amy, he'll love it."

"Okay, I trust you."

Amy looked at the price tag and smiled.

"I can afford it!"

Cream heaved a breath of relief. Amy then looked at the price tag on Cream's dress, her expression now looked shocked.

"I love the dress you're wearing, Cream. But combined with the price of my dress, it's a little expensive."

Cream smiled at this.

"That's okay. I brought my own money, so I can pay for my dress while you pay for yours, okay?"

Amy was a little surprised hearing this, but she couldn't disagree with her best friend.

"Okay then. To the register!"

_A few minutes later…_

Amy and Cream walked up to Amy's apartment door to find a note on it. It was from Sonic. Amy took the note off the door and read it aloud:

_**Hey Ames!**_

_**I have something I need to tell you. Come on over to Emerald Beach at 5:15 p.m. Oh, and be sure to wear your best outfit today!**_

_**-Sonic**_

Amy slowly gasped when she finished reading it. Cream looked at the note, too.

"I wonder what Mister Sonic wants to talk to you about Amy?"

A smile appeared on Amy's lips, then her eyes darted for her watch. It was 5:05 p.m.

"I have ten minutes left until I have to meet up with Sonikuu!" Amy said as she hurriedly opened the door to her apartment and ran in to change clothes. Cream walked in, a soft smile was on her face.

"Amy is Amy, no matter what."

_Soon…_

"Hurry up Cream! I'm already late as it is!" Amy shouted. She was in the white dress she bought at the dress shop; she wasn't wearing her headband or shoes. Her feet were sore from running on the hard ground, but she didn't care. Cream was right behind her in her regular orange dress. Around her left ear, was a hot pink ribbon.

"I'm going as fast as I can Amy!" she called out.

"C'mon Cream! It's already 5:23! Hurry up!"

Amy was only a few miles away from Emerald Beach; Cream was a mile behind her.

"HURRY UP!!"

"I'M TRYING!"

"Hey girls calm down."

Amy gasped.

'_I know that voice.'_ she thought. A gloved hand clasped over her bare shoulder and brought her close to the body.

"Yo Ames."

"S-Sonikku? What are you… doing here?"

Cream had caught up to Amy and was pretty much out of breath at this time.

"Amy, I think I should do boxercising with you more ofte- Mister Sonic?!"

Sonic smirked his usual smirk as always, before saying to Amy, "I got worried when you didn't show up, so I went out to find you. And here I find you just a few miles from the beach!"

"I'm sorry Sonic." said Amy, apologetically. Sonic smirked, then he leaned down, and kissed her forehead.

"You're cute when you apologize, ya know that?" Sonic said in his playful manner. Amy blushed.

"Anyway," said Sonic. Amy looked up at him. "I guess I'll have to carry you guys there myself!"

He wrapped one of his arms around Amy; his hand underneath her legs, picked her up, then did the same thing to Cream. Before the girls could figure out what Sonic was up to, he ran towards Emerald Beach at the speed of light!

He stopped in front of a wooden table; a pink tablecloth covered it, and gently put the girls down on the soft sand.

"Uno momento Ames, Cream." said Sonic before he took off. He came with a medium-sized, light pink, rectangular box 2.4 seconds later. He placed the box in the middle of the table, then turned to the girls.

"Sorry I'm late girls!"

Sonic walked over to Amy, took her hand, and led her to one end of the table. He helped her sit in her seat, too. Cream sat in a seat near Amy. Sonic then opened the box, revealing a vanilla cake with white frosting and pink and blue icing roses on it. In green cursive icing, were the words:

**Happy B-day Amy Rose!**

The blue hedgie carefully pushed it in front of Amy. Amy was captivated!

"Ooh, Sonikku. It's-"

_FWEET!!!!!!!!_ Sonic whistled. Almost everyone jumped out of their hiding places and hollered, "SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!!"

Amy almost jumped out of her seat she was so surprised! Sonic laughed.

"Sorry Ames. But seriously, Happy 17th B-day!"

Amy calmed down a little before smiling her happiest smile of all time. She then looked around to see who was here. Tails was here, Cream was here, Sonic was, the Chaotix were here (the hospital let them go early.), Big and Froggy were, Cream's mother… everyone was here except Shadow, Amethyst, and Rouge.

'_Oh well. They'll come next year.'_ thought Amy. She sighed. Sonic placed a candle in the shape of a '17' on the cake, just above the green writing. He carefully lit it with a match.

"Okay Ames! Time to make a wish and- hey, are you okay?" said Sonic. Amy looked at the blue hedgie, then shook her head.

"I'm fine; I just had some things on my mind right now."

Sonic was wary, but he decided that he would talk to her about it later.

"Alright Amy. If you say so. Now how 'bout that wish?"

Amy smiled, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then blew the flame out like a gentle breeze in mid-spring. Everyone cheered as soon as she opened her eyes.

"Time to CRANK UP THE VOLUME!!" shouted Vector as he placed a boom box on the table, turned the volume on max, and pressed the play button. A rock song started playing on the boom box. Charmy jumped up and down, screaming, "Yeah! Time to rock n' roll!!"

Everyone except the girls started dancing to the heavy music. Cream covered her ears, trying to block out the noise. Vanilla put earplugs in her ears. Amy screamed bloody murder the music was so loud! Sonic was the first to notice that the girls were uncomfortable, so he jumped on the table and turned the music off.

Amy stopped screaming and all the guys stopped dancing. All eyes were on Sonic. The blue blur turned towards the guys, saying, "Guys. This is Amy's B-day! We'll let _her_ decide what she wants to do right now!"

Everyone then turned their eyes toward Amy, waiting for what she had to say. She hesitated a little bit, but then said, "We eat my cake first! _Then_ we can have fun!"

And that's what everyone did, the birthday girl ending up with a small serving due to her diet. When all of the cake was gone, Vector turned the music on again, but _this _time he turned the volume down a little.

* * *

"Oh my God! It's BEAUTIFUL!! Where on Earth did you find this?!" screamed Amy. A couple hours had passed and it was time for the birthday girl to open her presents. From Tails, she got an upgraded Piko Piko Hammer. From Cream and Vanilla, she got books that had fashion advice and info on all the new fashion trends. From Vector, a set of red headphones.

Espio gave her a small crystal bottle of healing potion, "for curing and healing almost anything" is what he told her. Charmy gave her a bouquet of assorted flowers. The gift she had just opened was from Big the Cat and Froggy. What they got for her was a large pearl that easily fit in the palm of her hand.

"Froggy and I found it at the Mystic Ruins while we went fishing… We dunno how it got there in the first place." explained Big. Froggy just croaked.

"Oh, that's okay Big. It doesn't matter to me where you found it, it's gorgeous!" said Amy as she set the pearl aside. Big laughed a little, Froggy croaked. Amy thanked everyone for their gifts after that. Sonic decided to give his present to her when they were alone… and now was a good time.

"Say guys… and girls, how 'bout you all do your own thing while the B-day girl and I have some _alone time,_" He winked at Tails, who quickly got the message, got up and walked away. "If ya know what I mean."

Everyone soon got the message too and started to walk back to the party area. Vector stopped a while, turned his head towards the blue blur, and said, "Good luck Sonic." He gave him the thumbs-up sign before walking off with everyone else.

Sonic returned the gesture, then walked up to Amy, offering her a hand up. She took it.

"C'mon Ames. Let's take walk along the shore." said Sonic. Amy blushed a little and cracked a small smile.

"M'kay."

In a flash, they were by the shoreline, illuminated by the full silver moon that now shone overhead. Sonic and Amy walked along the shore, fingers entwined, both silent for a while. Sonic was the first to break the silence.

"I forgot to say this before, but… Ames, you look lovely in that dress."

Amy looked up at him, his emerald green eyes colliding with her sapphire blue eyes.

"D-Do you… like it?" She smiled a bit, happy to receive the compliment. Sonic looked taken aback.

"_Like_ _it?_ Are you _crazy!_" he hollered. Amy then started to look upset and was on the verge of tears. Sonic wiped away a tear that was about to escape from her one of her eyes. In a gentle tone, he added, "I _love_ it."

Amy gasped softly. She smiled warmly at him.

"You idiot. I thought you didn't like it."

"Why wouldn't I?"

Amy hugged her blue hero- not in a death grip this time- and cried softly into his chest. Sonic stroked her quills until she calmed down a bit.

"Don't cry Ames. This is supposed to be a happy day for you."

Amy looked up at him, brushing away her tears.

"I'm already happy with what I have. I'm with you, Cream, Tails, and everyone else. I have great adventures, I had fun, and I have everything I've always dreamed of wanting. And today is one of the happiest days of my life."

Sonic smiled.

"It gets better."

He held out a fist and opened it, revealing a small pink box with a blue ribbon on it.

"Close your eyes Amy."

Amy gave him a suspicious look.

"It's a surprise."

With that being said, she closed her eyes.

…………………………

"Can I open them now?" she asked.

"Yep."

Amy slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see a diamond ring around her left finger. The diamond was medium sized and embedded on a gold 24K ring.

"It's beautiful Sonikku."

"And it's for you."

Amy looked confused. Sonic held her hand and kneeled before her.

"Ames, will you… marry me?"

Amy's face flushed a deep crimson color when he said that.

'_Oh God. He's proposing to me? I can't believe it!'_ she thought. _'It's too good to be true!'_

"Y-You're kidding right? Sonic?"

Sonic shook his head and stood up.

"It's my present to you," he started. He blushed a deep hot pink, turning his head away from her a little. "I-If you'll accept… that is. I would never lie to you 'bout this!" He faced her again, his face a bit close to Amy's now. "I… love you Ames."

Amy gasped slowly and smiled. She wrapped her arms around his neck, softly kissing him on the lips.

"I love you too Sonikku. Always have, always will."

Sonic wrapped his arms around her slender pink body, blowing on a few stray strands of her quills that were on her face.

"So, will you share your life with me… forever as long as we live?"

A few tears flowed down her face as she smiled. They weren't tears of sadness, but tears of joy.

"After three years of dating and one day of happiness, my answer to you is 'yes' Sonic."

They looked in each other's eyes for a while, admiring everything about the other. Both of their eyes closed, faces close to each other, lips almost touching… then-

_BOOM!_

Eyes snap open as their heads turned towards the sky. Another loud, 'Boom!' and the sky lit up with a green light.

"Fireworks." said Amy as ten yellow, blue and purple sparkles and lights exploded in the sky. Sonic saw, too and smiled warmly.

"I planned for the fireworks to be the birthday finale for ya." he replied. Amy smiled, watching as purple shapes, pink swirls, and blue sparkles burst. The ocean reflected the firework lights like a crystalline mirror, the nighttime sky gathering slivers of colorful light, and the moon shining brightly on the hedgehog couple. The pink and blue hedgies stared at the fireworks in amazement before facing one another, still in each others' arms. Closing their eyes once more, they pulled each other closer in a tight embrace.

Then, their lips touched in a long, warm and tender kiss. The fireworks made a red heart in the background, as if responding to the lovers' moment. In their minds, they seemed to say:

'_Please, hold me like this and never let go. If you do, I would go crazy… living without you… forever.'_

* * *

**I admit, I **_**loved**_** writing the kissing scene when I got to it! What can I say? I **_**adore**_** romance! MAY THE SONAMY UNIVERSE SURVIVE! –ahem- That was pretty lame of me to say that… -sweat drops- Sorry. Anyway, previews for the next two- yes, 'two' – chappies! Next chapter(s): Shadow starts getting flashbacks that aren't familiar with him… and for some reason; he's in every single one of them! Revealed in: 'Memories'. In part 2 of 'Fireworks and Disappearances!', Shadow wakes up in an underground lab and meets some familiar faces… and how will the Ultimate Lifeform react when Maria reveals a secret that she had kept from him since they first met in the cemetery? Find out in 'Fireworks and Disappearances! Part 2'**


	7. Side Chapter: Memories

**Hello fellow readers:)**** Welcome to the side chapter of this story! In this chappie, Shadow starts having more memories reel through his mind. This was before Shadow disappeared, btw. Enjoy! ;) **_**Disclaimer: Shadow belongs to Sega © All of the OCs belong to Me ©**_

* * *

**Side Chapter:**

**Memories**

_Memory: 55 years ago…_

"He's not… dead. Is he?"

"No he isn't! He's just knocked out! Why…"

_Voices… I hear voices. What are they saying? Are they talking about… me?_

"Both of you stop! Your bickering isn't solving anything! _Il est ennuyant !_"

"Can it French girl!"

"Hazard! How about _you_ 'can it'!"

"_ME?!!?_ I DON'T KNOW WHY I HAD TO TAG ALONG!!"

_Who's there? What happened? Is there something wrong with me? No. But… am I… dead? That can't be. I can still hear people talking…_

"… still breathing. Guys! He's still breathing!!"

"OF COURSE HE'S STILL BREATHING YOU-"

"Relax Hazard. Find your happy place…"

"F-CK MY HAPPY PLACE!! YOU SON OF A…"

_Someone's being aggressive. Wait… the girl with the French accent said I was still breathing. Good. I'm not dead. But I need to wake up. Just… need to… open my eyes._

"Uhn…"

"FUSION! HAZARD! CELESTE!"

"WHAT?!"

"Hm?"

"_Qu'est-ce que c'est ?_"

"He's coming to, you guys!"

"About time!"

"Hazard!"

_My eyes are opening, but my vision's a little blurred. Hold on, I can make out the figures. One is… a yellow… Damn. I can't tell.… Wait, someone's touching me… someone, pink?! No, an animal. But, what is she?_

"_Remerciez Dieu._ Thank God."

"Are you okay? Hey, hedgehog. If you can hear me, say something."

_I can hear you… I just can't tell who or what you are. Wait, my vision's starting to get a little clearer. Two animals are looking at me right now. The pink one looks like… an echidna. And the yellow one, the one who's talking to me, is… a hedgehog._

"Ooooh. My head."

"Ah, good. You're awake!"

"Pandora, give him some air."

"Celeste-"

"He needs some space."

_No, wait. I'm fine, but… what happened to me?_

"Okay."

…

"_Merci._… Are you alright? You've been unconscious for a while. You're lucky to be alive, especially after your space pod crashed here."

_Space pod? Crashed? Unconscious? When did… wait, now I remember! I was on the ARK, the G.U.N. soldiers invaded, and… and… Oh God, no. No. No! NO!!_

"MARIA!!"

………………

"-huff, huff, huff-"

"W-What th-"

"Did he just say-?"

"He did."

_Maria. Oh God. Maria. She's gone. She's gone. Why? Why? No… Huh? Someone's… touching my shoulder. Who? ……… You. The yellow hedgehog._

"You came from Space Colony ARK, did you?"

"… Yes."

"I thought so. Now tell us. Who are you?"

"Tell me… who _you_ are first."

"My name is Project Pandora. The pink echidna is Project Celestial. The white fox is Project Hazard. And the indigo rabbit is Project Fusion."

"Projects?"

"Yes. And you are?"

"I'm… Project Shadow the Hedgehog."

_End memory._

Another memory from fifty-five years ago. What does it mean? Was this when… no, it couldn't be. I don't know who they are. Do I?

I probably _do_ still have amnesia. Then again, who knows? But, then again… why do I have these memories and why am I in them? It doesn't make sense. Why…?

Huh?

_Memory: 55 years ago in a tunnel._

"We're almost there guys. Just a little more and we'll be in the Underground."

_Underground? What's that?_

"What's the Underground?"

"You don't even _know?!_ Hmph! Dumbass."

"What?!"

"Ignore him, Shadow. That's jus' 'ow Hazard is."

_I'm getting a migraine just by looking at him! And I wish that the echidna girl… what was her name? Celestial? Yeah, I wish she would stop speaking with a French accent!_

"The Underground is what we like to call it, but it's really the center of this island. In simpler words, it's where we were created."

"I've never been here before."

"Hehehe. What Pandora means is that was where she, Celestial, Hazard, and I were created."

"Along with _deux autres_."

_What did she say? I don't have a clue what she just said._

"…Uuuhh."

"Celeste! For the last freakin' time!! STOP SPEAKING FRENCH WORDS!!!!"

"Shhhhhhh! Not so loud Hazard!"

"Oh shut the f-ck up Pandora!"

"Calm down you two. There's no need for an argument."

"But-!"

"No 'buts'."

_These guys are officially crazy._

………

"Okay guys we're here. All we need to do now is go down the corridor."

"FINALLY!!"

"Good."

"_Enfin._"

"… It's a metal corridor."

"Yep! It leads to the lab."

"A lab? Underground?"

"_Oui._ It's an underground lab."

… _What the hell? How do these guys survive down here?_

"C'mon. Let's get going before the others know where we are."

_Others? There are _more_ of these guys?_

"Is that a… bad thing?"

"To be above ground, yes it's bad."

"… Why?"

"We'll explain once we get in the lab, okay? Also, we need to introduce you to everyone!"

"…"

"Shadow?"

"He's probably thinking about Space Colony ARK right now. After hearing what happened up there from him… I think it best if we-"

_ARK. Where Maria lived her whole life, and her grave. Maria, I remember the promise I made to you. For all of the people on this planet, I promise you… revenge!_

_End memory._

Another memory. What the hell? Why… am I seeing these? I don't get it. There must be a reason why I'm remembering them… and why I'm in there.

And the yellow hedgehog… so, her name's Pandora. Or is it? Do I… really know her? Damn it! Why can't I remember?!

… And something about that fox… was very, very familiar. Where have I seen him before? Maybe… Oh God. Not again!

_Memory: 55 years ago in an underground lab (continued…)_

"Shadow…"

_Hm? What the hell does she want? She wants to talk to me _now?_ Why now? She hasn't talked to me since the argument we had yesterday._

_I don't want to hear her say anything about Maria again…… Then again, she might want to apologize to me. Oh boy… I'm not in a mood right now. But…_

"Did you… say anything?"

"Ummm, no?"

_Thought she might say that… Huh? Someone's… touching me. More like rubbing my back. But who?_

"You can't hold it in forever, Shadow. You'll just keep building it up until you can't contain it anymore. How long do you plan on holding in your feelings?"

_Fusion… No. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry. Damn it! Maria…_

"Um, Fusion?"

"Yes?"

"Shadow's _fine_. He doesn't need your comfort."

_Ah. Grrrrrrrrrr! Why that little-_

"Pandora, I-"

_BITCH!!!_

…………………………

_Damn that girl! Saying that I don't need any comfort!… Well, maybe I don't… but… Oh god. Maria… what would you do if you were here?_

"Shadow?"

_Who is _this _time?_

"What do you want?"

"I just thought that you'd like some company."

"I don't need it."

"I say you do."

_Well, I _do_ want some company. But, this person must have some guts for talking to me like this. Especially when I'm in a foul mood._

"Why?"

"Because you looked lonely back here and I also came here because you missed your-"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT A GODDAMN LAB TEST!!!!"

_Yeah, a lot of-… Huh? A human. And……… he's only a young boy. The same age as Maria, too. He's in a wheelchair also, but why?_

_Wait, his eyes and hair… blonde hair, blue eyes. Just like Maria…_

"Who are you?"

…?

"Didn't my twin sister tell you about me?"

…

"Twin sister?"

_What on Earth is he talking about?_

"You know her. She was on Space Colony ARK with you and Professor Gerald."

_Okay, I'm stumped._

"Who or _what_ are you talking about?"

…

"She didn't tell you about me, did she? Oh wait, I forgot. We were separated from each other since birth, so she wouldn't remember me. Even though we knew about each other through video messages… it doesn't really count, I guess."

"Huh?"

"I know that you know her… her name's Maria Robotnik."

…………

"You know… Maria?"

"Yes. She's my twin sister."

"Twin…"

"Oh, before I forget, I should introduce myself. My name is Cedric. Cedric Robotnik- Hey are you okay?"

_Maria… had a… twin brother?! She never said anything about having any siblings! And here on Earth, too!!_

"WHAT THE HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

…!!!!!!!!

………

"Yow! That was loud!"

"What the hell? What the hell? What. The. Hell?"

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say it to surprise you. I just thought that-"

"Shut up. I get it. I didn't know."

"Heheh. Right."

_Now that I think about it, he _does_ look like Maria. But why is he on Earth? And about those video messages… when was this?_

"Your name… is Cedric, right?"

"Huh? Um, yes."

"And you're really related to Maria, right?"

"… We've never met in person, but yeah. Pretty much."

"Then why are _you_ on Earth? And why are you in a wheelchair?"

"……… Our mother died when Maria and I were born, so, we were put in the care of our relatives. Maria went to our grandfather, Professor Gerald, on our mother's side. I lived with our uncle, also on mom's side, for a while. I was sent here to live with a distant relative; she passed away when I was four.… The reason why I'm in a wheelchair is… well… I can't walk."

"Can't walk? Do you have a disability or something?"

"Huh? Hahaha! No."

"… Then-"

"It's a long story. One I'd prefer not to talk about."

"…"

……………

"Shadow?'

"What _now?_"

"Something's bothering you, isn't it?"

"No!"

"I can tell that something's bothering you. So, what is it?"

"…"

"Let me guess. Are you still thinking about what happened on the-"

"NO!!"

**Shadow's normal POV:**

Why'd he bring that subject up? I don't know. Does he know what happened on the ARK? I didn't want to know. I just didn't want _that_ brought up again.

I could feel a mix of emotions swirling around inside me. The first was anger. Next was rage. Another was vengeance. The next one was hate. The last one… I couldn't make out.

I was too focused on anger and hate to notice.

"You can't deny it Shadow. I know-"

"NO! You _don't_ know!!"

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't!! You wouldn't understand! You have no idea what it's like!!"

"To what?! Lose your best friend? I _do_ know what it's like! I lost a relative who was more like a best friend to me! And I know you and Maria were best friends!"

"You don't know Maria! Don't even _think_ you know her!!"

Now I was at the point of rage. I don't even know why I'm saying this stuff. I think he was just playing me the whole time. Wait, is he… crying?

"Sh-Shadow… w-why are you… saying this? Maria t-told me in a video message… that… you weren't like this." said Cedric through his sobs. "She said that… y-you were… nice."

I didn't want to admit it at first, but I know that what he said was true. Maria…

"I'm…… sorry." I said. I feel something wet on my face… water? Cedric noticed this, then he dried his eyes and the question he asked me now was one I hoped I would never hear for my whole life…

"Shadow, are you crying?"

What?! Did he say that I was… NO WAY!! I didn't want to believe it. I got angry to the point of rage. Then, I couldn't hold it in any more… I balled up my hands into fists and exploded.

"I AM NOT CRYING!!!!"

I charged at him and aimed at him for a punch.

"YOU SON OF A-!!"

I couldn't finish my sentence… because at the point where I was going to land the punch, Cedric grabbed my arm before I could touch him. The next part was the unpredictable one… he pulled me toward him and held me close to his chest in a gentle embrace. I didn't know what to do or what to think, I was just shocked at this moment. The next thing I knew was this: My eyes filled up with water… no, they were filled with tears. Bitter, salty tears… of sorrow.

_That_ was the last emotion. Sadness. I couldn't hold back anymore… and I started crying. Cedric held me a little tighter, but not too tight, at that point.

"It's okay Shadow. It's okay. I'm still going to be here. So, don't worry. You're not alone anymore."

"Pro-promise?"

"I promise. But promise me one little thing."

I started to calm down a little and dried my eyes a bit at this point.

"What?"

"Just don't cry anymore."

"But… what if-"

"Well… maybe not exactly _anymore_. You're only human."

I slowly and carefully got off of him (it's not easy when he's in a wheelchair.) and dried my eyes entirely.

"I am _not_ a human."

"Heheh. It's a figure of speech Shadow. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Hmph. If you say so."

After all that happened, I swear… I will _never_ cry like that again. In fact, I'll stop crying starting now.

"By the way, do you have any time right now?"

"Hm?"

"There's this place that I want to show you, so, do you want to-"

"Fine. But you'll have to wait a while for me."

"Why?"

I smirked at this.

"I need to take that lab test I missed right now."

I walked away, looking back for a while. I could just see the shine in his blue eyes as I did. That made me smile a little (JUST a little!). When I looked forward again, I saw someone peeking around the side of a metal door frame just a mile away. Someone who had yellow quills and a black vest on.

"Pandora." I muttered under my breath. I went through the door and walked past her a bit, then stopped.

"You saw what happened, didn't you?"

I heard her gasp. I must've been right.

"I did."

"Just don't tell any of the others about that, okay?"

"M-hm."

……

"Shadow?"

"Yeah?"

"This is the first time we've talked since our little… disagreement."

I nodded a bit.

"I know and I'm-"

"I'm sorry Shadow. For hurting your feelings."

I could _not_ believe my ears. She finally apologized to me. Now it was my turn to apologize to her.

"Me too." I said.

"You weren't the one who hurt me. _I _was. _I_ was the one who said bad things about… _her_. I didn't know what I was thinking. I guess I was just… jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yes. I was jealous because… I never actually met her before, but _you_… were the lucky one created on the ARK. I along with the other projects… only knew Cedric."

"Why did you want to meet Maria so bad?"

"Because… she lived in _Space _Colony ARK! I don't know what outer space is like, so I use my imagination to picture what it looks like. Plus, she seems like a nice person… like Cedric."

Now I _really_ couldn't believe my ears. Pandora never knew what space was like, just like me when I didn't know what it was like on Earth. Cedric must've felt the same way as Maria was.

"Pandora, I-"

I started walking up to her when I suddenly tripped on something, causing me to fall on top of her when she turned to face me.

"AUUUGGGHHH!!!!" we both screamed. My eyes were closed when I landed on her. Next thing I knew, my lips had touched something warm. Oh God… I hope it's not… _that!_ But it couldn't have been… she would've smacked the crap out of me if it was.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was on top of Pandora… her eyes were closed, too. Then I noticed what my lips just touched. _Her_ lips. My face flushed a very, very deep red color. When her eyes opened, her face, too, flushed a very, very deep red.

We broke away instantly.

"Uummmmm… uh… heh, right." The words couldn't come out of my mouth. Pandora didn't say anything at all; she just looked so surprised for a while. I got off of her and cleared my throat.

"Well… I didn't expect _that_ to happen."

"M-Me either."

We both looked away from each other. Now, I really didn't expect that… I wouldn't count it as a first kiss, but then again, who knows?

"Um, Pandora? I have to go now… I have a lab test to do and, uh, yeah," I said. Damn. Why do I sound like an idiot all of a sudden? "See you later!"

I stood up and started fast walking, when I realized that I forgot where the testing took place. I walked back to Pandora - who was still on the ground – and helped her up.

"Um… I can't remember where the lab tests are."

"……… Heheheh!"

"What the hell is so funny?!"

"I'm sorry, hee, it's just… hahaha! It's just, oh God!… You're funny when you're lost. Hehehe!"

"…"

I didn't want to admit it, but… when Pandora laughed, I felt like laughing too. I chuckled a bit thinking about my unnatural sense of direction in this place. I felt something grab my arm… it was Pandora.

"C'mon, I'll show you where it is." she said as she started to pull me down the corridor. I had to cooperate with her, so I walked. I don't understand why, but whenever I see Pandora… I just… I don't know. What is this feeling that I have? I've had it since the first time I met her five days ago, but I don't know what it is.

I've never felt like this with the other projects, so, why only her? Damn. I don't know. It could be just my imagination… then again…

_A few minutes later…_

"We're here!"

"Finally."

"You can thank me later."

We stood before the door to the lab tests; I won't admit it, but maybe…

"Pandora."

"Hm?"

"What are the lab tests like?"

The yellow hedgehog had to think about this for a while.

"They're not all bad. All they do is take x-rays of your body, test for reflexes, run physical scans, etc. And it doesn't take long at all."

"You promise?"

"I promise. C'mon, everyone has had a lab test before."

"Not… me."

She looked at me for a while, confusion filling her face. She understood what I meant a while after.

"I see. Space Colony ARK never did run tests on you, did they?"

"A few. But it was just to test my abilities."

…

"Well, here in the Underground, the scientists run tests on the projects to see if we're… unstable or defective."

I admit it now, I'm nervous. I didn't want to be unstable _or_ defective… I have no idea what to do.

"But I wouldn't worry about it too much. I mean, I've had like over a hundred lab tests and there's nothing wrong with me. Same goes for Celeste and Love."

I look at her for a while.

"What about-?"

"Silva and Hazard? …… Uummm, well. I can't really tell you a lot, but I _will_ tell you this: Keep your distance from them… Mostly Silva."

I had a bad feeling at this point. Oh! What the hell am I thinking?! This is stupid getting nervous over this! I am the _Ultimate Lifeform_.

I can do this.

"I'll take your word for it Pandora. Let's go in now, okay?"

She stared at me.

"You… want me to go in with you?"

I smirked and nodded.

_End memory._

What. The. F-ing. Hell? Okay, these memories _have_ to be fake. I'm not one to go soft on others. Oh my-

-gasp- Nighttime already? Damn it! When that pink haired girl comes back… I have to get out of-

_WAP!_

Ah. Wh-who? … I'm losing… my consciousness… again. Who? It… can't be.

The… yellow… hedge… hog……

…

* * *

**I've become obsessed with flashbacks and memories; I know it's true. Reviews are always welcome:)**** Next chapter: Shadow wakes up in an underground lab and meets some familiar faces… and how will the Ultimate Lifeform react when Maria reveals a secret she had kept from him since they first met in the cemetery? Find out in 'Fireworks and Disappearances! Part 2'**


	8. Fireworks & Disappearances! Part 2

** I'm so so so so so so so so so so sorry for not putting this up! I was banned from my computer, had writer's block _and_ I was busy with a lot of things! Anyway, here's Chapter 7. Enjoy:)**

** _Disclaimer: Shadow blongs to Sega (c) OCs belong to Me (c)_ **

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Fireworks and Disappearances!**

**Part 2**

**Shadow's POV:**

What happened? I… don't know what happened to me. My head hurts, too.

_Shadow…_

Huh? Who's there?

_Shadow…_

Where are you? Show yourself!

_Shadow… can you hear me?_

Yes, I can. Tell me, who are you? How do you know my name? _Where_ are you?!

_I have always been with you Shadow. You just need to look deep in your heart and you'll find me._

Answer my other questions! And what the hell are you talking about?!

_All will be revealed to you in time, I promise. For now, however, you just need to look deep in your heart. I'll be waiting for you until then._

What? Wait! Tell me something before you go, where am I?!

… _We're in the Subconscious of your mind. I can't stay long Shadow, for you are about to awaken in the Real world right now. But I promise you that we'll meet again._

Unh! Wait a minute-!

_Remember: Look deep in your heart._

WAIT!!

* * *

**Normal POV:**

Shadow's eyes started opening, slow and steady, as he started regaining consciousness. His vision was blurred a little, then after a while, it became clear. The first thing he saw was a ceiling. A metal ceiling with a few dents in some areas, broken wires, black explosion markings, and 10 missing tiles.

"Wh-what?" He sat up and found himself in a highly damaged room. The floor and walls were made of stainless steel and looked pretty battered to boot. There were also pieces of furniture in the room. There was a trashed up clock, hanging lopsided on the wall; an overturned desk was in the corner, and he was on top of a bed that looked slightly untouched. There was only one window that was located on the wall behind him.

He rubbed his eyes, thinking that this was a hallucination or he was seeing things and it would fade as soon as he took a second glance. It wasn't either one.

"Where… How did I… get here?" he asked to no one in particular. Shadow rubbed the back of his head, groaning as he did so.

"Damn, my head hurts. What the hell hit me?"

His mind back-tracked to what had happened before he was knocked out; his eyes bulged when it came to him.

"That yellow hedgehog. God dammit! How could I let her catch me off-guard?!" he demanded. At that moment, he heard a metal door in the room fall over and hit the ground. Shadow became alert when he heard and put up a fighting pose when he saw someone enter. Who he saw entering was a teenaged boy with short, indigo hair that touched his ears half-way; violet eyes that looked like they could see through you; light skin, and a soft expression was on his face when he saw him. Shadow glared at the boy.

The indigo haired boy smiled and chuckled a bit.

"I see you're up and active as always." he said.

Shadow looked confused. Did this 18-year-old know who he is? He doubted.

"Who are you?" he asked. Crimson eyes stared at pools of violet in confusion as he said this. The teenager didn't say anything; he just stood there with that calm smile on his face as if waiting for Shadow to remember something. When Shadow didn't say anything else, the indigo headed boy just walked up to Shadow, sat down next to him, and before Shadow could act, the teen started to gently rub his back. Shadow was pretty shocked.

'_W-What? This feels… familiar… for some reason.'_ he thought. Shadow relaxed a bit, causing him to look down and see his hands. He was human again!

'_But, I… was a hedgehog. Crap… how long was I knocked out for?!'_ Shadow hid his surprise from the boy. Suddenly, as if on cue, Shadow started having flashbacks… of the place he was in right now and-

"Fusion?" he questioned softly. The teen heard this and slowly moved his hand up to Shadow's right shoulder (the same side he was on).

"That's me." he said. Fusion stood up after a while and stretched.

"I'm going to find some clothes for you, okay? While I'm at it, I'll find clothes for myself as well." And he walked out of the room, giving a slight wave to a baffled human Shadow.

"What. The.-"

* * *

Meanwhile, in another banged up room, three girls were getting their clothes on. All of them were around age 18. One of the girls had short, neck-length orange hair that kind of curved up on the ends. She also had ruby red eyes and looked like an athlete with her slim and slightly buffed body. Around her head was a red and white striped headband with the Star of David emblem on it. 

She was putting on a pair of black jeans, a red sleeveless tank top, leather hiking boots, and black sweat bands around her wrist.

Another girl had cream colored skin, smooth as silk; pink eyes; long pink hair that only touched her knees, and was kind of slim. She had a green beret on her head and was putting on a nurse outfit.

The last girl had long, back-length yellow hair, light skin and beautiful hazelnut eyes. She was trying on a variety of clothes and hadn't decided on one yet.

They were all talking about something… something about the blonde.

"Sorry about your ex… must've been hard for you." said the orange top. The blonde sighed, then glared into a shard of a broken mirror.

"It was… the worst part of it was the fact that he found out about my original form _before_ his death!" she harshly answered.

"What do you mean?" asked the pink head with a French accent. The blonde growled.

"He saw my transformation one night and a day after that, he committed suicide!!"

"Hurt you bad, huh?"

The blonde nodded.

"When I went to his grave, I had to make an excuse on _how_ he died. We can't let people know about our… 'condition'," She did finger quotes on that word. "If you know what I mean."

The two nodded.

"But, let's face it, girl. He was never your type to begin with."

"_Oui._ Your type had always and forever will be, the type that-"

"Shut. Up. Celeste." interrupted the blonde. Celeste didn't say anything after that threat. The orange girl took off the red tank top, seeing that it didn't suit her, and gave a look of concern to the blonde. Something just didn't feel right. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"This isn't like you; tell us why you're acting like this."

The blonde shoved the hand off of her and said, "Can't tell you."

"I agree with Love, Pandora-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!!!"

"Easy, girl. Just relax for a sec-"

"YOU ARE _NOT_ FUSION, LOVE!!! So quit acting like him!!"

After that outburst, Love sighed and ran her fingers through her orange hair.

"Pandora, you _can't_ stick with a fake name forever. Sooner or later, you'll have to tell the people you lied to that your _real_ name is _not_ Maria Hedrick!" she finally said. Pandora sighed.

"Even Shadow?" she asked. Two heads nodded. Pandora blushed and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"I can't you guys. Especially since I know… that he, too, is like us."

"_Ce n'est pas votre défaut._ It's not your fault. Anyone could 'ave made a mistake like that easily."

"But if he sees my original form, he'll try to kill me! I mean he and I fought when I was robbing a bank. _And_ I hurt someone who had a Chaos Emerald!"

"You WHAT?!" shouted Celeste and Love. The blonde sweat dropped, a nervous smile planted on her face.

"That's… right. You guys didn't know."

"TELL US!!!"

"Look, Silva persuaded me with an offer I just couldn't refuse. After I agreed, he told me that I needed to find the Chaos Emeralds. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a good start; what with all of the havoc that was going on 'over there' and due to the alien invasion a few years back, we waited for a good time and here we are right now.

"Also, I heard that a Chaos Emerald was stashed in the bank vault somewhere so I went over there; Shadow caught me robbing it on that night, so I couldn't get it. _Then_ the next night, I found Shadow with some… bat girl!! I noticed that she had an Emerald in her hands, so I used my Chaos Shard (A/N: Think of this move as the Chaos Spear attack, but in shards.) on her. And no, I didn't kill her, but it was kind of funny seeing Shadow retreat. But to take that... that… that damn bat girl with him!! GRRRRR!!!"

The two flabbergasted girls took a while for the info to sink in and for the enraged blonde to calm down before Celeste said, "You're not… jealous are you?"

"Yeah, especially since you were-"

Love was interrupted with a smack across the face by Pandora, who was trying her best not to cry as her eyes started filling up with tears.

"Bastard! You know very well that it's gone!" she screeched. Love rubbed her check, which was now red from the slap and stared at Pandora in pity.

"Sorry I brought it up." she said, apologetically. She then grabbed a blue tank top and put in on. Pandora just stood in front of the broken mirror like a statue, clutching a yellow blouse in her hands. Celeste gave her a comforting smile and gently said, "Let's put it behind us now. I mean, we have everyone back together again!"

The blonde shook her head.

"Just say it. Shadow doesn't remember us. Hazard forgot about us, too. And Cedric… he's-"

"Enough. We all know what happened way back when, but let's just hope that he's in a better place now. And as for Shadow and Hazard, weeellll…" Love started.

"Silva is going to force them to remember by using the Alcanine drug on them." finished Celeste. Pandora went wide-eyed.

"Alcanine?! You mean-" Before she could finish her sentence, someone entered the room. An 18-year-old boy with tan skin, messy black hair with green streaks that stopped between the shoulder blades, and maroon cat-like eyes. He wore a black shirt, a long, black cloak, black boots, gloves, and a pair of dark blue jeans. Around his neck was a red collar.

"Hello girls. You all look lovely this morn-"

At that precise moment, Pandora screamed. She was only wearing her undergarments and immediately covered up her body with her hands and arms.

"GET OUT OF HERE YOU PERVERT!!!" she screamed. Love helped by holding Pandora close so that no one saw her.

"You heard her Silva! GET OUT!!" she yelled. Silva smirked and walked closer to the girls. Celeste stopped him from getting any closer by stepping in front of him.

Silva's smirk was still on his face, then he said, "I just came in here to congratulate Celestial and Love for your success in retrieving the Master Emerald. I already gave Fusion credit since he helped in stealing it." He looked over at the blonde haired girl now. "And Pandora… dear, sweet Pandora, I give you congrats, too, for retrieving Shadow. You were correct that you found him and thanks to you, The Brethren clan is now complete."

Pandora became infuriated for many reasons.

"Stay away from Shadow… you murderous bastard!" she screeched. Silva roughly pushed Celeste out of the way and walked up to the angry blonde. Love held her very close now as this happened. The dark haired teen moved his head towards Pandora and whispered in ear, "One dose won't kill him, but if he still doesn't remember, well you know what'll happen."

Pandora shoved him away from her, blushing furiously, both in anger and in embarrassment.

"I'll KILL YOU!!"

"Don't be so cruel… remember our talk a couple of days back? You should be ashamed of yourself. I helped all of you break out, yet you still don't trust me."

Celeste picked herself up from the floor at this point, saying in French, "_Vous ne méritez pas d'être fait confiance!"_

Silva looked back at the pink girl and growled at her. "Again how ignorant of me. But all of you need to trust me now. Unless anyone has any ideas on how to bring _him_ back, I suggest you all start finding the three remaining Emeralds.

"As for Love and Celestial, I didn't release you two and Fusion from the capsules so that you could shower me with mistrust!"

There was a moment of silence between the foursome, then Silva turned and left the room, stopping at the door only to say, "And another thing, there will be _no_ interference while I work on Shadow and Hazard. They _will_ remember… I'll make sure of that."

When he was gone and out of earshot, Pandora pulled away from Love and put on the blouse, grabbed a black skirt with red edges and put those on. While doing this, she said in fury, "Like hell I won't interfere! If he thinks he can get away with doing something like that, then he's got another thing coming!"

The two girls remaining stared at her in shock. They stared at each other for a while then back at the blonde. When Pandora was all decked out, she marched out of the room − not really caring if she was only wearing socks on her feet – and ran down a corridor that led to the main lab.

'_I've gotta get to Shadow before Silva does. I can't let him get hurt… or worse, killed.'_

* * *

Shadow scanned his appearance in a broken mirror. Fusion came back with clothing for him a few minutes ago and had already left. Shadow was wearing a black sleeveless shirt and a pair of black jeans. 

"This will do for now." he said to himself. He then walked towards the door and walked out of the room. Shadow looked from side to side, seeing nothing but corridors and other doors. Parts of the corridors were all trashed and broken cords stuck out of a few ripped out walls.

"The hell?" he asked himself. He walked to his left and made a right turn in one of the corridors. The corridor led him to a giant door. The metal doors looked like they were forced open by some unknown force for Shadow saw the giant metals on the ground, both had a large dent on them. He walked in and gasped when he saw the destruction of the giant room.

Some walls were blown off; snapped cords hung from above and from destroyed machinery, charred areas, etc. The room looked like it was in ruins! He looked around again and saw that most of the machinery was untouched and functioning properly. Shadow backed up a bit, stopping when he felt something stop him from behind. He turned around, seeing a lab table with broken test tubes and splotches of blood on it.

He maneuvered around it and a few other lab tables. Shadow picked up a blood stained chair that had been on its side for some time and put it right side up.

"What the hell happened in here? A war or something?" he asked to no one in particular. He kept on walking, then stopped when he saw a giant crystal orb in the middle of the room.

"Damn. This is-"

'_A remote, underground lab facility that hasn't been used since the arrival of the G.U.N. soldiers… or so they thought.'_ A voice finished. Shadow spun around, seeing no one there. He looked around at all sides and angles. No one. He started getting ticked off and shouted, "Who's there?! Show yourself!"

Just then, he heard the voice chuckle. _'You really don't remember my voice _or_ this place anymore.'_

Shadow growled. "Tell me now! Who's there?!"

'_Meet me in the old testing lab and I'll tell you _everything._'_ And with that, the voice disappeared. Shadow glared at nothing and walked off. Just then, something in the corner caught his eye. He walked towards it. As he walked he began wondering who was the voice that was talking to him and what it meant by he 'no longer remembers this place'. It didn't make sense to him.

'_It probably has something to do with the memories I've been having lately. That voice from when I was unconscious… Is that what it meant? Look deep in my heart and-… No. Not possible; I've already told myself that the memories are fa-'_ His thought was interrupted when he ran into something and fell over.

"Ow. I have _got_ to stop thinking while I walk. You never know what you'll-" he started. What stopped him from finishing his sentence was the thing he ran into. "… hit."

What Shadow saw was a capsule with seven slots on the front. Four of these slots had a yellow, red, blue, and green Chaos Emerald in them. Shadow didn't know how the green Emerald left his possession, but he couldn't care less. He reached his hand in that slot and tried to grab the Emerald. Before he could touch it, he automatically pulled his hand out of the slot and started gently rubbing it.

The capsule must have had a security system, because Shadow's hand had a burn mark on the fingers and a cut was seen on his palm.

"Dammit. I can't get the Chaos Emerald. At least, I can't get it without losing my hands in the process." he said to himself. He licked the blood off his hand and stood up. He then noticed something behind a dome-like glass window. He tapped it with his other hand and looked closer. There were bubbles in the green fluid of the capsule that seemed to hide whatever was is there.

Shadow looked closer and could just make out something through all of the bubbles. He pressed his face against the glass, careful as to not make the capsule fall over or anything. He squinted his eyes until he could finally see what was in there. What he saw was a human with blonde hair. The human was a boy as far as Shadow knew.

He also noticed that one eye was closed; the other eye was hidden amongst the bubbles. Shadow tried to get a good look at what was hidden among the bubbles, but couldn't make it out.

'_The boy looks familiar for some reason.'_ he thought. He heard something a while after, turning his gaze away from the boy in the capsule to the direction of the noise. He stared at the capsule for a while before taking off to find out what the noise was.

If Shadow had stayed, he would've seen the Chaos Emeralds glow and he would've heard the boy in the capsule say, "Sha… dow?" Then the glow faded back to its original glow, making the boy look lifeless again.

_Two hours later…_

Shadow slammed his body against the wall, panting heavily with sweat running down his body. It seemed to him that every time he got closer to the source of the noise, it just got farther away from him. He pushed some of his hair to the side and wiped some drops of sweat off of his forehead.

"This… is… -pant-… stupid!" he said in between breaths. "How long… will this… go on?!"

Shadow could hear clanging sounds coming from around the next corridor (which was close by) at this point, so he had enough energy to walk over there to see what was there. The noise led him to a room; the metal door had been forced open. He looked inside and saw six tubes, three were against one side of the room and three were on the opposite side. The room was untouched, but two tubes looked like they had malfunctioned and had just been repaired. Shadow could tell that everything in the room hadn't been used for a long time.

As soon as he walked in the room, he heard the sound of crying and frustration coming from a broom closet on one side of the room. He cautiously walked up to it and was about to grab the handle when-

**WAP!!**

Something hit his face; the result of the hit had him crash to the ground. The door ripped off of its hinges and almost crushed Shadow had he not of pushed it out the way in time. Something then fell on top of him, something that had long blonde hair and hazelnut eyes.

'_Maria?'_ was all that came into his head before he felt the girl's lips lock with his. When that happened, a few more memories flowed through his mind. One memory showed him as a hedgehog arguing with a yellow hedgehog about something. The second one showed him in a room that was filled with plants. The last one…

_Memory: 55 years ago…_

"Do you like the view Shadow?" asked a yellow female hedgehog. Shadow smiled, pulling the hedgehog close to him.

"Yes. I like it Pandora."

Pandora blushed and giggled softly. Both hedgehogs were looking out of a big glass window that was three feet taller than them combined and around seven feet long. They were standing on a metal surface of a room that was originally a corridor of the Underground. From where they were standing, they could see the sun setting behind an oceanic horizon, the waves crashed just underneath the mammoth sized window.

Pandora looked up at the black hedgie and smiled her sweetest smile of all time. Shadow looked down at her and tenderly kissed her forehead.

"But you know what?" he whispered to her. Pandora's blush had subsided; she quizzically stared at Shadow, only to answer, "What?"

Shadow planted a kiss on her lips before answering. "You remind me of the sunset. Like the one we had just seen today."

Pandora softly and slowly gasped as the blush returned to her face.

"Whenever I look at you Pandora, I see only beauty. If I would compare you to the sunset, I would only mention one of the colors of the setting sun. You are also mysterious like one, too." Shadow romantically added. He then pulled the yellow hedgehog into a gentle hug. Pandora returned the gesture, a few tears leaking out of her eyes while doing so. Shadow noticed this and pulled away a bit.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Pandora looked up at the black hedgehog, wiped away her tears, and smiled.

"I'm sorry Shadow. It's just… well…" She couldn't get the words out. Shadow looked deep in her eyes and knew that something was wrong.

"Tell me. What's bothering you?"

Pandora pulled away from him, just so there was enough distance between them for her to grab her lover's hand and caress it.

"Shadow? I have something that I need to tell you. I'm just afraid of how you'll react." she said. Shadow nodded and told her to go on. Pandora took a deep breath and held on to Shadow's hand a little tight.

"Shadow. I'm…"

_End memory._

Shadow snapped back into reality, then shoved whoever was on him off. He noticed who it was afterwards.

"Maria?" he asked, helping her get up on her feet. Maria Hedrick stared at him and nodded.

"What are you doing here? _How_ did you get here?" he asked. Maria shrugged and dusted off her black skirt and yellow blouse.

"Intuition, I guess." she said.

"Intuition? That I was here?"

"Yes. I, uh, couldn't find you in Station Square, so I guessed where you were and here I am!"

Shadow smirked. "Oh, before I forget. Sorry for shoving you off, I didn't know who it was at first."

Maria shook her head.

"Forget about it! That happens to me all the time, so I don't mind!" she said, optimistically. Shadow's eyes widened a bit.

"_All_ the time?" he asked. The blonde haired girl looked like she was frozen stiff!

"Uuuh… never mind!" she said quickly. Shadow's eyebrows arched a bit in suspicion; he didn't know Maria very well, but something about her was strange. He turned towards the open door and was about to leave, when Maria stopped him.

"Wait!"

He turned his head to see her.

"While I was trying to find you, I passed by a room that I think you'll want to see."

Shadow thought about this for a while. He wasn't sure whether he should go with her or not.

'_Then again, this place _is_ a little familiar. After seeing those memories, I'm starting to think that… maybe…'_ he thought.

"Where is it?" he asked. The blonde smiled.

"I'll show you." she said before grabbing Shadow's hand. A slight blush came across both of their faces as they began towards the door and out of the room. After a while, Shadow dared to ask, "What were you doing in a broom closet anyway?"

Maria Hedrick looked up at him and shrugged.

"I must've… uh, locked myself in there while searching. I don't know." she said. Shadow raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

'_She's a mysterious girl, that's for sure.'_ he thought.

It took a few minutes for the twosome to get to the room. When they entered it, the room looked more like a corridor than a room (in Shadow's opinion anyway.). Maria led him to the large window on their left. It was a few inches taller than Shadow (in his human form) and in some areas, there were cracks in the glass and some parts had no window at all. The ocean waves crashed underneath the window as time flew by.

"Do you… like the view?" asked the blonde headed girl. Shadow just nodded and stared out the window with a blank look on his face. Maria trembled a bit.

"Is something bothering you?" asked Shadow without looking at her.

"Um… Shadow? I have something I need to tell you."

He looked at the girl now and urged her to go on.

"Actually, it's a secret that I've been keeping from you since we first met. I'm just afraid of how you'll react when you hear it."

Again, Shadow urged. The sun was now setting a little fast than normal, so Maria looked at the dark haired teen in his deep crimson eyes and said, "We've… met before. I'm not talking about our first meeting in at the cemetery, but… we _have_ met before. A long time ago."

Shadow looked confused. "What the hell are you-" he started.

'_Shadow. Where are you? Come to the testing lab NOW!!'_ the voice from earlier said to Shadow, telepathically. Shadow looked back for a minute, causing the blonde girl to worry.

"Can we talk later? I need to be somewhere right now." he said. Maria Hedrick gasped and, without thinking, grabbed Shadow's arm before he could walk away, turned his face so it was facing her, closed her eyes, and planted a kiss on his lips. She held it like that; tears started forming in her eyes. Shadow was surprised by this sudden move Maria made, but gave in to it almost automatically. At that moment, a whole bunch of memories flowed through his mind.

_Memory: 55 years ago in Shadow's room._

The black hedgehog looked around at his new surroundings. Hey, living underground was no picnic, but it had its benefits. He growled under his breath for he knew that life without Maria would be hell for him (A/N: This was before his first encounter with Cedric.)! As soon as he heard someone walk in his room, he spun around and used Chaos Spear on the intruder. He was surprised to see that his attack was blocked by a green dome that quickly receded when the smoke cleared.

"You need to work on not attacking when someone enters the room. _Mon Dieu._" said the French, pink echidna.

_End memory._

_Memory: 55 years ago in the main lab._

"**PANDORA!!!!!!**" screamed a rather furious black hedgehog as he attempted to punch the yellow hedgehog in question. She dodged the punch, arms crossed and eyes closed.

"What's _your_ problem?" asked the rather annoyed looking hedgie. Shadow faced her, crimson eyes filled with rage, both of his hands balled up into very tight fists, and teeth bared.

"What's my problem?" he asked softly in an angry tone. "_What_ is my PROBLEM?!?!?" His voice was louder at this point. "I HEARD YOU MAKING FUN OF MARIA A WHILE AGO!!!"

Pandora 'humph'ed at this. "Well what I said was true. That girl deserves to burn in the fiery pits of an eternal hell for all I care! She's a skank and a blonde haired **BITCH!** I'm actually _happy_ that's she's dead!" she yelled.

Shadow growled. "You don't even know Maria! YOU KNOW _NOTHING_ ABOUT HER!!"

"YOU THINK I _CARE_ ABOUT YOUR _PRECIOUS_ MARIA?! No!! I would care less if she wanted you to actually kill someone just to avenge her gruesome death!"

"You know nothing about me! You know nothing about Maria! I would gladly kill you first as the beginning of my promise to her!"

"You only think revenge is the answer?! Well guess what, Shadow! IT'S _NOT!!_"

Shadow punched the hedgehog directly in the face in response to the remark.

"SHUT UP! Why do you give a damn about it?! I'll even bet that prissy little son of a bitch of a friend of yours isn't as great as they say! I'll bet he's not even _real!_"

Before anyone knew it, he received a good smack across the face by the yellow hedgehog.

"You don't know him! Why do _you_ give a damn if he's real or not!!"

Shadow rubbed his right check and gave her a death glare.

"Take back what you said about Maria!!"

"HELL NO!! NO WAY IN HELL AM I GONNA TAKE IT BACK!!"

"**I CAN'T STAND TO TALK TO YOU, LET ALONE **_**LOOK**_** AT YOU!!**"

"Well! If _that's_ how you're feeling about this, then fine!! **I WON'T TALK TO YOU FOR AS LONG AS I FREAKIN' **_**LIVE!!!**_** YOU HEAR ME?!**"

"**SKANK!**"

"**FUCKER!!**"

"**BITCH!!!**"

"**SON OF A BLONDE BITCH!!!!**"

"**WHORE!!!!!**"

Their eyes were locked in a death glare showdown; both of them were growling, their eyes filled with rage, hands clenched into very tight fists, and teeth bared. They kept it up for an hour before their heads away from each other, 'humph'ing, and then walking away.

_End memory._

_Memory: 55 years ago in an underground greenhouse._

Shadow looked around at the wonders of the greenhouse in awe. He didn't believe that plants could grow underground and survive since there was no sunlight, but the heat lamp proved him wrong. Cedric pushed forward in his wheelchair towards a wall with several shelves lined with different kinds of plants. He tried to reach out to grab a pot full of chrysanthemums on the bottom shelf, but to no avail. Because he was in a wheelchair and couldn't walk or stand up, the shelf was too high for him to reach.

Cedric was only able to grab the edge of the shelf, then he let it go. Pandora, who had accompanied Shadow, leaped over to the ladder that was a couple of centimeters away from the shelves and climbed on it. She then pushed it towards the shelves and grabbed the pot of chrysanthemums.

"Here you go Cedric." she said as handed the pot to the said boy. Cedric took it and thanked the yellow hedgie. Shadow just smirked.

'_Not only does he look like Maria, but he acts like her, too. Maybe they're twins after all.'_ he thought.

"Hey Shads! Come over here!" called out Pandora. Shadow complied. Cedric smiled at the black hedgie and showed him the yellow flowers.

"Aren't they beautiful?" the blonde haired boy asked the black hedgie. Shadow stared at the chrysanthemums for a while, then he carefully and gently stroked one of the flowers.

"Yes… they are." he said softly. Pandora and Cedric just stared blankly at Shadow for a few seconds. There was silence for a few minutes. Pandora was the first to break it.

"You've never seen, touched, or smelled a flower before… have you?"

Shadow looked up to see her. "I've seen pictures of them in books that Maria would always show me back on the ARK, so I guess you can say that." he replied. Cedric couldn't help but smile.

"She loved to read about Earth, huh?" said Cedric. He then sighed. "Guess we both loved to learn about each other."

Shadow gave him a questioning glance. "What do you mean?"

Pandora spoke up before Cedric had a chance to reply.

"He means that he loved learning about his twin sister's home in space and Maria loved to learn about Earth, Shadow." she said. Shadow sighed and his face went back to its emotionless expression. Pandora giggled at that.

"Oh! I just remembered something!" exclaimed Pandora. She walked over to another part of the greenhouse and plucked off something off of a plant. She came back with three strawberries, one for each of them.

Cedric took a strawberry. "I didn't know they were ripe already." he said, half-impressed and half-awestruck. The yellow hedgehog smiled.

"I was surprised myself when I saw them!"

Pandora held out her hand to Shadow. "Hold out your hands, please."

He complied. The yellow hedgehog placed a red strawberry in his hands. When he saw the small, delicate fruit, he was amazed at its beauty. It had a wonderful red hue and the seeds on the outer layer looked so tiny! The black hedgie chuckled a little to himself.

Pandora then said, "Go on Shads. Taste it."

"You mean I can _eat_ this thing?"

Cedric and Pandora laughed.

"It's called a strawberry, Shadow. And yes, you can eat it." noted Cedric as he popped the fruit into his own mouth. Pandora just took a bite out of the tip. Shadow stared at them for a while, then at the strawberry in his hands. He finally made his decision as he took a small bite out of it. His eyes bulged.

It tasted so sweet! Shadow took another bite out of the fruit.

"I'm guessing you like it?" asked Pandora. Shadow nodded as finished eating.

_End memory._

_Memory: 55 years ago… (continued)_

… "Shadow? I have something that I need to tell you. I'm just afraid of how you'll react." said Pandora. Shadow nodded and told her to go on. Pandora took a deep breath and held on to Shadow's hand a little tight.

"Shadow. I'm pregnant."

The black hedgie's eyes bulged. He certainly wasn't expecting _this_ to happen! "When did you find this out?" he asked. Pandora's body shook a bit.

"This morning." she said. Tears started to roll down her face as she embraced her lover. "I'm so sorry!"

Shadow looked down at the sobbing hedgehog for a while, the started to gently stroke her quills.

"I'm not mad Pandora. I'm just surprised is all. It's a little unexpected for me."

Pandora nuzzled her face into Shadow's white chest fur, her tears never subsiding.

"Do you even _want_ this baby? Be honest with me Shadow."

The black hedgehog in question sighed. He thought about it for a minute, then said, "Of course I do. Pandora, why would you ask me that?"

Pandora slowly looked up to see her lover's face. She looked deep in his eyes and saw that he was being honest with her. She smiled a bit. "Oh, Shadow…" She kissed him on the lips. "I love you."

_End memory._

Shadow broke the kiss instantly when the memory ended. He backed up a bit until he was up against a wall.

"Maria." he said. The girl in question shook her head slightly.

"My name's not Maria Hedrick, Shadow. I lied to you… about everything." A couple of tears fell to the floor.

Shadow slowly gasped. She had lied to him the entire time he had been with her? He thought about some things, like the memories he had, the voice from his Unconscious, and about the mysterious yellow hedgehog. Then it hit him as he stared at the blonde haired girl a couple feet in front of him.

"You. _You're_ the mysterious yellow hedgehog that was robbing the bank back in Station Square." he said. The girl nodded.

"You're also the one who hurt Rouge a couple days before." Another nod from the girl. The last thing that Shadow said was: "You're Project Pandora the Hedgehog." The blonde girl hesitated as tears flowed down her face an on to the cold metal floor. Then at last, she nodded.

"I'm sorry, Shadow. I'm so sorry." she said in a crying tone. "About everything from before, day and night, I'm sorry. I really didn't want to steal from anyone and I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just… I'M SO SORRY!!" The blonde then fell on her knees and started crying her whole heart out. She cried due to guilt. She cried because of a promise she accepted from Silva. She cried because of what happened in the past. And she cried because she knew that Shadow would absolutely hate her now.

Shadow just stared at the blonde haired girl, whom he now knew as Pandora, and sighed heavily. He didn't know what to do. That kiss had awakened all of his memories and now he remembered _everything_ that happened 55 years ago. There was also one thing that he knew…

"Pandora." He walked up to her, crouched down and wiped off her tears. "I thought you promised me… that you wouldn't cry anymore."

… He just couldn't find it in himself to hate Pandora.

The said blonde looked up to see Shadow's face; hazelnut eyes clashed with crimson eyes as she saw that there was no hate in his eyes. Pandora blushed, then without thinking, she leaped onto Shadow and hugged him. As she did so, the sun had set all the way down. Both Shadow and Pandora glowed with bright white light; the glow then faded and in place of their human forms was their original forms, hedgehogs.

Shadow was once again surprised by the sudden move, but he slowly and carefully returned the gesture.

_

* * *

_

'_I knew you'd find me Shadow. I just knew it.'_ said the voice from Shadow's mind.

'_I remember you now. You're a figment of Pandora.'_ Shadow said to the voice.

'_I told you I've always been with you. All you had to do was look deep in your heart.'_

'_And I did. I'm sorry for forgetting.'_

The Pandora figment giggled. _'I don't blame you for forgetting Shads. Fifty-five years _did_ pass after all.'_

'_Huh. Guess you're right.'_

'_At least now… we can be together again.'_

Shadow nodded and smirked.

'_You're right.'_

* * *

**Did this chapter make sense? I tried to have it make sense, so again, sorry if it didn't. (Note that I say 'sorry' a lot, so... yeah.) Reviews are always welcome:D Next chapter: Sonic makes wedding plans, the Chaotix are in the hospital again, Tikal appears in Sonic's timeline, and Rouge leaves to go find Shadow! What surprises are in store for everyone? Find out in 'Shocking News'!**


	9. Shocking News!

** To everyone reading this author's note: I am -once again- sorry that this took me _forever_ to post up! TT The new chapters might come out later because I tend to get writer's block, banishment (temporary) from the computer, etc. I also like to thank everyone who had read and reviewed some of the previous chapters! Thank you and enjoy chapter 8! XD**

**_ Disclaimer: Sonic belongs to Sega (c). OCs belong to me._ **

* * *

Chapter 8

**Shocking News**

"A little more to the left… No the right… A little bit more to the right… On second thought, just leave it the way it is." said Sonic. He, Tails, and Cream were trying to straighten a picture that was on the wall of a large ballroom in _The Grande Matriarch_, a fancy restaurant in the middle of Station Square. Tails and Cream groaned as they let go of the picture frame.

"Remind me why we're straightening pictures in a restaurant ballroom again?" asked Tails. The blue hedgie smirked.

"I booked for the wedding to take place here. It's a great idea if I don't say so myself."

"But Mr. Sonic, how did you get the money to pay for the wedding reservations?" said Cream. Sonic's smirk still remained on his face, but Tails and Cream could see the sweat rapidly rolling down his body. All three of them were kicked out in a heartbeat.

"If you've got no money, then no wedding reservations!" said the owner of the restaurant before slamming the front doors shut. Sonic stood up and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sheesh. _Someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning!" he muttered. The yellow kitsune sighed.

"Next time you want to book a wedding somewhere, find a cheaper place to have it!" he said, irritatingly.

"Sorry 'lil buddy. I can't. I promised Amy that our wedding would take place here; it _is_ the hottest place to have the wedding and they had open reservations, I didn't even think about how much it would cost me until now." replied Sonic. Cream gently rubbed her head, trying to avoid touching the big bruise that was there. Sonic looked at her and had a look of worry on his face.

"Uh, Cream? Maybe you should go home for the day. You know… tooooo, uuuhh… take a break until-" Sonic started, but was cut off by Cream when she stood up and said, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Besides,"

She rolled one of her shoulders back and smiled, though there was a hint of pain in that smile. "It doesn't hurt that much! Really…"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Ya sure? I _can_ get someone to escort you if you plan on-"

"I'm eleven years old Mr. Sonic. I can handle it." Cream gently retorted. Tails walked over to the injured rabbit girl and softly touched her shoulder, causing her to gasp a bit and look back to meet the kitsune's eyes.

"Sonic's not saying that you _can't_ handle it. It's just… we're worried about you. Ever since you returned to the base with those terrible injuries, well… Amy freaked out; your mother became sick with worry,

Sonic grew worried… we all did, Cream." Tails said calmly with a mixture a concern. Cream was about to say something in her defense, but Sonic beat her to it.

"Those injuries you've got were worse than the ones you received after your mission. And Cheese wasn't even with you, not even when you gave me that call about the Chaotix and I had to rush over to the hospital to see you in a very sorry state!" he said. He paused for a moment. "What _did_ happen on your mission anyway? I heard that the guy wasn't even in his apartment room when you first arrived there, so how did you get the injuries?"

Cream's body shook from both fear and sorrow. Fear because of what would happen if Sonic or her friends ever found out. Sorrow because of the gruesome thoughts of what had become of her chao friend. She couldn't even tell Chocola Chao what had happened to his brother on account of her fear. She didn't notice that she was crying until Tails wiped away her tears.

Tails smiled at her and said in a gentle tone, "You can tell us Cream. We can help you if you tell us what's going on. We trust you."

Cream just stared at both fox and hedgehog for a while, then she finally cracked a small smile. "Alright. I'll tell you guys."

Sonic urged her to continue when she stopped.

"You see…"

-----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, Amy was at the mall, window shopping for wedding dresses. She saw a lot of lovely dresses, but they were too expensive and she only had enough money in her purse to buy a wedding gift, a small gift, but a wedding gift. The pink hedgie sighed. "Normally, I'd buy a bunch of dresses by now. If only my apartment rent wasn't my number one concern." she said. _'And if only I didn't have to worry about who comes to my wedding. If my parents were coming, well dad'll throw a huge fit and mom would be worrying about me to no tomorrow. They never did approve to me when I said that I loved Sonic more than anything else.'_ she thought. "So why would they even bother to come?"

Amy sighed once again and walked over to an escalator. She was headed towards the food court for lunch today. On her way, she heard a group of girls behind her talking about something. It went something like this:

Girl 1: Hey did you guys hear about what happened downtown?

Girl 2: No. What happened?

Girl 1: It was on the news today! Three guys got mugged by some shady characters!

Girl 2: Get out!

Girl 3: Seriously?!

Girl 1: I'm not making this up! No one knows what they were doing downtown, but to get mugged and have their money taken? That was serious!

Girl 2: Who were they?

Girl 1: You know that detective agency that earns money for their cases? Those guys.

Girl 3: Were they taken to the hospital?

Amy ran down the escalator, not really caring about the answer at the moment. She had to tell Sonic about this!

----------------------------------------

"……… Oooooooohhh… hm?" The red echidna guardian, Knuckles stirred. His body was sore, but wet. "What happened to me?"

"You're awake." said a female's voice. Knuckles slowly turned his head to his right and saw a light orange echidna girl wearing ancient white and green clothing and a Mayan style, thin headband around her head. She was kneeling beside him, a look of worry in her eyes.

Knuckles gasped. He knew this girl!

"Tikal?!" He asked, completely baffled. Tikal nodded.

Knuckles sat upright and looked around at his surroundings. He was near the ocean and was sitting on the beach. The whole place looked deserted.

"Did I die or something?" he asked, mostly to himself, but loud enough for Tikal to hear. Tikal shook her head and replied, "You're not dead. When I entered this time, I slowed your fall so that the impact on the water didn't kill you."

"Yeah, and that's the thing. How _did_ you enter this timeline anyway?" Knuckles asked.

"I tried to communicate you through the Master Emerald. But when you didn't respond, I used the Master Emerald's power to send me to your time to tell you something important. But I entered this time spiritually; if something happened to the Master Emerald, then I become part of this timeline physically."

Knuckles processed all of this and realized something. "So that voice from before was you?" he asked. Tikal nodded.

"But! I don't get it! What was with the last part? Why did you say that?!"

Tikal sighed, "I know that this is different from the words _you're_ used to hearing, but you see… that last part was a prophecy that had been long since forgotten. And it still lives on today!"

Knuckles looked confused now. "What do you mean it 'still lives on today'? If it was forgotten, then how-?"

"Well, not in words at least. You were attacked on Angel Island, correct?" asked Tikal. Knuckles nodded, although he wasn't exactly sure how she knew that.

"The foe you faced there… she had Chaos Energy flowing through her entire body. I sensed it when I arrived."

The red echidna guardian was confused now. Tikal just continued her explanation. "Chaos Energy is the power that resides inside of the seven Chaos Emeralds. Within a human, it is uncontrollable and unstable. But within another life-force, each Energy has a different effect. One-"

"Was a shield meant for defense. I know, Tikal! I had the fing experience!" Knuckles finished. "After that, she blocked and _deflected_ a BOULDER that I threw at her… with a fing huge WALL!! What the hell did she do?!"

Tikal sighed. "It may be possible that she had a Chaos Emerald with her to double the shield's strength. But if she were to do that… then she would be giving up a lot of Chaos Energy…"

"SO?!?!" Knuckles stood up. "She used up a lot of Energy, _so what!_ It's not like there were going to be any flaws in the process!!"

"It's not as simple as it seems! Yes, a lot of Energy would be used up. But it's the Chaos Emerald that'll absorb all of the Energy she used to create that wall."

"_And?_"

"Knuckles, please understand. When the Chaos Emerald absorbs Chaos Energy out of a life-form's body, then he/she loses a lot of stamina and is left exhausted and weak!" Tikal said this very seriously. Knuckles' eyes bulged. _'Exhausted _and_ weak?! I didn't know that Chaos Energy was that complicated… Wait, now that I think about it, didn't Tikal say that humans can't control Chaos Energy? But, how was it that that girl (Celestial, was it?) _could_ control Chaos Energy? That's just nuts!'_ he thought. He was about to ask Tikal something when the communicator on his left ear vibrated a bit.

Knuckles answered the incoming call.

"Yo!" he said.

"Hey Knuckles! Glad that you _finally_ answered your communicator since five days ago!" That was Sonic.

Knuckles groaned. "Yeah? Weelll… I had a few problems that needed resolving, but it's all good now. So Sonic, waddaya need?"

Sonic sounded a bit firm and concerned when he said, "Just get your ass over here at the hospital!!"

"Is this about Rouge again?"

"No! The Chaotix are hospitalized again!!" Then the communication was terminated.

"Sonic? Hey, Sonic! Are ya there?! SONIC!!" No response. He looked over at Tikal. "C'mon Tikal. We need to tell Sonic and the others about what you told me. This is something that everyone needs to know!"

Tikal nodded and stood up. "I had a feeling that you would say that."

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "Oh _really?_"

Tikal just shrugged, then took off when Knuckles ran off.

**At the Station Square hospital…**

A doctor entered the waiting room, clipboard in one hand while his other hand adjusted the glasses on his face. Another doctor, female this time, followed behind the first. The name tags on their doctor's outfits read: Dr. Daryl and Dr. C. Smith.

Daryl stopped when he got to Sonic, Amy, and Tails, who were all there because of the Chaotix. Sonic was impatiently tapping his foot, Amy was twiddling her thumbs a bit, and Tails looked a little nervous. Cream was also there, but the doctors took her to a room in the hospital where she would have a checkup and have new bandages on her wounds.

"Hey doc!" said Sonic to Daryl. "How are the Chaotix doin'?"

The doctor turned to the female doctor, C. Smith and said, "Go to the E.R. for now. Then you can check on the patients after that."

C. Smith was about to say something when Knuckles entered- more like _barged into_ – the room, out of breath and sweating.

"Am I… late?"

"You are…" Sonic checked his watch. "Five minutes late, knucklehead."

Knuckles smirked, then said, "Shut up." before getting in a seat.

Smith nodded quickly and dashed to the E.R. Knuckles thought that she looked familiar for a while, but then brushed it off as nerves. Daryl cleared his throat and scanned his clipboard, flipping through the various prescription papers to get to a report on the Chaotix's condition.

"The Chaotix will be fine, but we're not sure how long that they should stay in the hospital for." the doctor said while scanning the report. "Vector Crocodile is unconscious, but alive. The only problem is his cranium, which has at least five bruises and bumps on it. He has deep gashes on his legs and the side of his stomach."

Sonic's eyes widened when he heard that. Amy, Tails, and Knuckles slightly gasped.

"We managed to stitch the gashes, so he'll be fine. But Vector will have to stay in the hospital for a few months just in case." said Daryl assuring the group.

"What about Espio and Charmy?" asked Amy while she held onto Sonic's arm. Daryl scanned the report again, then said, "Espio Chameleon has slash marks on his body and his horn had been chipped a bit due to heavy collision with hard surfaces or objects. There's also a bullet wound lodged in his kneecap… other than that he'll be okay. But I have to say that the bullet wasn't easy to remove. Espio will have to not move around as much from now on, is that clear?"

Everyone nodded.

Tails then piped up, "How long will Espio be here for?"

"About a month. The days will vary depending on his condition, though. Anyway, moving right along… Charmy Bee has major injuries. His wings are damaged, so he won't be able to fly around for a while. He's also suffered from hard blows since there are bruises all over his body. Scrapes were found on one side of his face and a scar is visible on his left eye, his eye is surprisingly undamaged, though.

"Both arms and legs are broken and he's lost plenty of blood…… We've already stitched his wounds, but he'll have to stay in the hospital for around five months or more"

Knuckles abruptly stood up in fury.

"FIVE _MONTHS?!_ More like five _YEARS!!! _ARE YOU REALLY A DOCTOR?!?!" the red echidna hollered, drawing the attention of waiting patients, doctors, nurses, visitors, etc. nearby.

Embarrassed, Daryl replied, "Well… these things take _time._ And," He paused. "One of the doctors, Mrs. Smith, is in charge of taking good care of the threesome while they're here. She's very talented I might add."

Knuckles frowned at the doctor before sitting back down.

"Another thing you all need to know is how Miss Rouge is doing." Daryl added. Everyone gave him a 'Well?' look as if expecting an answer. Daryl cleared his throat again.

"Last week, some blood had entered Rouge's right lung due to stress and pressure, which had caused a problem for us. When we didn't know how to remove the blood in her lung, a new doctor had come in. Yes, it was Mrs. Smith. She knew _exactly_ what to do in that situation. And because of her actions, another life had been spared from death."

"Sounds helpful." said Sonic.

"_And_ highly skilled in the medical department, too!" added Amy. Knuckles just shrugged as if he didn't care much and Tails looked interested.

"She is wonderful all right. Anywho…" Before Daryl could say anything else, a nurse ran into the waiting room in a panicked hurry and whispered something in the doctor's ear. He jumped so fast that his glasses almost fell off his face!

"Ahem… very well then. I'll find Mrs. Smith and we'll head on over immediately." he said while pushing his glasses back in place. The nurse nodded, then ran back to where she appeared from.

Daryl turned his attention back towards Sonic and Co.

"There's an emergency in the West Wing's E.R. and Mrs. Smith and I are needed there ASAP. There are no visiting hours today I'm afraid, so… I'm sorry!" he said before running off.

----------------------------------

**Before…**

Mrs. Smith walked out of the E.R., wide-eyed and totally freaked out. She had just finished performing surgery on a thirteen year old boy who had appendicitis and was now taking a break. She pulled her mask down with one finger, making sure not to get some blood from her gloves onto her face as she did so. Her breath came out in a slightly rapid flow and her forehead had globs of sweat dripping down her face.

Smith awkwardly walked over to the sink and removed her blood-stained gloves. She turned on the hot water, then the cold water to make it warm. Smith then ran her cream colored hands underneath the warm water and splashed some on her sweat stained face.

'_Never again… will I perform surgery. But… I need to.'_ She thought to herself as she finished up washing her face.

"Mrs. Smith?"

"_Sacre bleu!!_" C. Smith automatically spun around to see who it was. When she saw that it was just one of the nurses, Smith sighed in relief.

"Oh, it's just you, Maggie." she said with a hint of relief. The nurse just nodded.

"You know Mrs. Smith, I think maybe you should take a break from operating for a while. I mean, you just seem… so…"

"Out of it?" finished Smith. Maggie nodded. Smith took a deep breath and smiled. "I'll be fine Maggie. No need to worry."

And with that, Smith ran off.

She managed to stop in front of a door to a room where hospitalized patients were resting in. The door sign read: C1608.

Smith stared at the sign for a long while. A Chaotix member was resting in this room, a member that she had a fondness for. The only problem was this: he wasn't in a good mood.

Summoning up all of her courage, Smith entered the room and quietly made her way to where the Chaotix member was. His whole body was covered in a blanket by the time Smith got to him.

"_Monsieur?_ Is everything alright?" she asked him. The Chaotix member in question removed the blanket off of his head. "_Monsieur_ Espio. It's me again."

Espio looked over his shoulder at Smith and sighed. "You came to check on me?" he asked. The female doctor nodded, then lightly traced her finger over a scar that was on his left arm. The rest of the purple chameleon's body was wrapped in bandages while his horn was chipped a bit at the tip.

"I heard you were in a bad mood because of what happened... but you-" started Smith. Espio brushed away her hand from him before turning back to his side and pulling the blanket over him.

"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered. "I've shamed myself too much already."

Smith looked surprised at this statement. "What do you mean? When I first worked here, you and your friends were just fine; getting a bit excited about leaving the hospital. But now... Espio, there's nothing you should be ashamed about."

"I'm a ninja, doctor. I'm not _supposed_ to fail in combat."

"Nor in your missions either. I know... but you can't let your shame stop you."

Espio sighed heavily and turned slightly, saying, "You wouldn't understand. You're not a ninja, so you wouldn't know what honor and shame are to us."

Smith's face turned sour and without warning, she started shouting in French.

"_F.Y.I., Je SAIS CE QU'EST L'HONNEUR, PLUS Moi N'AI AUCUNE QUALIFICATION de COMBAT, NATURELLEMENT, Je Ne suis pas Un FOUTU de NINJA!!!!!! _"

She took in a few deep breaths, regained her composure, realized that she had just shouted when their were other patients in the room, and blushed in embarrassment. She apologized to everyone and turned to leave. Espio stopped Smith before she could get further from his bed.

"Wait." Smith stopped. "I've been meaning to ask you, who are you really?"

Smith depressingly sighed and turned to face Espio, who was facing her; the blanket was removed.

"I can tell that some things that you say are lies. It's in your eyes... so who and what are you?" asked the purple chameleon. Some of the patients in the room were either listening to the conversation, or ignoring it, making it very hard for Smith to tell Espio her answer. She opened her mouth to speak, but was prevented by Daryl, who was sweating and gasping for air.

"Mrs. Smith! There's an emergency in the West Wing's E.R.! You'll need to bring your operation tools, stat!" he hurriedly said. Smith was about to say that she wasn't finished checking on the Chaotix, but instead answered, "Is it _another_ E-section??"

"For the fifteenth time, it's called a _C-_section and YES!! Now bring your tools and get going!" And he dashed off.

Smith- again- apologized to everyone before getting her tools. Before leaving the room, however, she glanced over at Espio one more time and mouthed 'Later.' to him.

--------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, a window had been opened, letting the cool breeze enter the hospital and cause some of the patients to shiver. Rouge was out of bed, writing a note down on a 'get well' card that Knuckles had brought her on his last visit before he disappeared. When the white bat finished writing, she closed the card, put her own clothes on - though they were stained with her own blood- then stood on the window sill... and jumped. Rouge allowed herself to fall, then she flew just before she hit the ground, just missing it by a few inches.

_'Even if I haven't healed all the way, yet,'_ she thought to herself. _'I have to find out where Shadow is. Then maybe I'll get all the answers I need.'_ And with that, she turned on a radar that was on her watch and managed to get Shadow's signal. It was faint, but it was enough for the bat-girl to know where to go.

"Don't worry Shadow. I'm coming for you." said Rouge as she glided out towards the ocean.

* * *

** Well... not sure if this is good, but... ah, nevermind. It's up to you fellow readers to decide if this was or wasn't good. Now on with the preview! **

** Next chapter: Disaster strikes as Silva finds out what Pandora had done! He soon starts forcing someone named 'Hazard' to remember with a special drug, but the plan backfires and the impatient panther is running out of options. Meanwhile, Shadow and Pandora are catching up on old times and the black hedgehog learns from the heartbroken yellow hedgehog what had happened to their child. What's to become of this after all of the gruesome details of what happened 55 years ago? **

** COMING SOON OR LATER:)**


	10. Back in the Day

**Hey everybody! Again, I'm sorry this is late, real life called and I had to answer. Seriously. That and I had writer's block and kinda forgot to do the story. Anyway, I'll try to not let that happen again. I thank everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter (or if you guys didn't review, the I thank everyone who read this.)**

**_Disclaimer: _Shadow only belongs to Sega. ****All of the OCs belong to me.**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Back in the Day…**

It was nighttime on the island and almost everyone was asleep right now. The old 'Underground' lab was quiet, except for the sounds of angry shouts and roars of fury coming from a beaten up room that was now completely destroyed. Silva was standing in the middle of the room, his claws bearing, surrounded in a red aura.

"Impudent wench!! She foiled everything!" he ranted. He was referring to what had happened a couple hours ago.

When Shadow didn't come, Silva got fed up with waiting and went out to search for him by himself! Silva passed by a door that led to the corridor/room an hour later and saw Pandora kiss Shadow. Silva listened to what they were telling each other and realized that the black hedgehog had gotten his memories back!

Thinking back on it, the enraged panther slashed at nearby objects, shouting 'Chaos Swipe' every time. Soon after his onslaught to the poor, defenseless room, Silva took in heavy deep breaths, the red aura slowly fading.

He took in a huge deep breath and calmly said to himself, "No matter. I can deal with her later. Right now…" He reached into his cloak and pulled out a syringe filled with a pink liquid. "I need to bring back the memories of a certain fox."

The black panther smirked and chuckled to himself in an evil-like manner, then he turned towards an untouched bookshelf, and put the syringe back in his cloak before moving the bookshelf away from the wall, revealing a door that no one except himself knew existed. Silva pressed a button near the door; a keypad replaced the said button. He keyed in the code and entered a dark room when the doors opened.

The door automatically closed behind him 5 seconds after his entrance. The room was mostly pitch black and dark, the only light that was in here was the one that was on the wall. At the most, it was like an interrogation room with Silva being the cop who had just arrived.

On the lit up wall, hung to it by the wrists in chains, was a white fox with black lightning bolt tattoos on its arms. The said fox's head lifted slightly, revealing dark circles around its blood shot silver eyes and a very tired expression.

Silva just smirked at the fox and said, "Riddle me this: 'What is your name?'"

The white fox glared at the panther in pure hate at being asked that.

"A-A-Ame-" He was struggling to say his answer and his voice sounded raspy and fatigued. "A-Ame-th-th-thyst."

Before the fox could even blink, he was slapped across the face by the panther. A red mark was now visible against the white fur. Silva glared at the fox icily.

"Wrong!! Think!! You are NOT a girl!! Tell me now: What. Is. Your. **NAME?!**" he shouted. The white fox coughed and wheezed a few times, not even bothering to give an answer.

Silva pulled out the syringe, stuck the needle in the fox's upper left arm, and injected the pink liquid into his body, saying, "Maybe _this_ will help you remember." under his breath.

The white fox trembled- not in fear, but in pain- as the liquid entered his body and made its way through his bloodstream. His breath became rapid and he tried his best to hold in his pain and not scream…… but he miserably failed and screeched at the top of his lungs!

A massive wave of memories flowed through the white fox's mind, causing him to twist and turn and move all around even though the only thing keeping him from moving away from the wall are chains. Amethyst tried so hard to figure it out, but he knew that he wouldn't have much time to delve into these memories when in so much pain.

The wave subsided, leaving the poor fox to take in huge gulps of air and twitching immensely all over. His coughing and wheezing became worse than before and he clenched his teeth together, trying to overcome a migraine he was having now as the liquid's side effects took place.

Silva, looking very displeased, put the empty syringe back in his cloak.

"You better remember soon. If the Alcanine drug doesn't kill you, I will!" He leaned in and whispered in Amethyst's ear, _"Do you want that?"_

Amethyst shook his head weakly. Silva smirked and added, "Good boy, Hazard."

The white fox could only growl at the panther since he didn't have enough strength to argue. Silva then turned and left the room.

'_I_ will _make you remember, Hazard. Even if it means coming back and using that drug on you again.'_ He thought to himself as he pushed the bookshelf back in place.

* * *

"… And _that_ is how we defeated the Black Arms." Shadow finished. Pandora laughed a little at the story. Since this morning, Shadow and Pandora had been telling each other what had been going on since they were separated. Shadow had just finished telling the yellow hedgie about his encounter with the Black Arms and Black Doom.

"What's so funny?" asked the said black hedgie. Pandora calmed down and rubbed the back of her head in a playful slash nervous manner.

"I'm sorry. It's nothing really… I'm just happy that we can talk like this." she replied. Shadow stared at her for a while before he smirked.

"Me, too." he said. The two hedgehogs looked into each other's eyes, crimson clashing with hazelnut as their faces drew closer. They would have kissed if Pandora hadn't pulled back at the last minute. Shadow looked confused.

"What's wrong?" Shadow asked. Pandora didn't say anything, but just shrugged and looked away from him. The black hedgehog gently pulled her face back to his own; a serious expression was written on it.

"No more secrets?" he asked in a serious tone. Pandora averted her eyes so that they wouldn't meet with Shadow's as she slowly started to shake her head. Shadow raised an eyebrow then turned his attention to Pandora's stomach. His eyes narrowed as if he noticed something different about it. He pointed an index finger at her stomach and asked, "Why's your stomach flat?"

Pandora's eyes widened and her expression looked pale and frightened when Shadow asked the question.

"Was the baby born? Where is it?" Shadow asked, a bit excited this time. Pandora bit her bottom lip and was holding back tears.

"Shadow…" she tearfully began. "I-I'm sorry."

Shadow's expression immediately became confused. "Sorry? About what?"

Pandora couldn't hold it in anymore; she broke down crying. Pandora didn't even look at the confused black hedgehog as she said through her sobs, "It's gone….. I-I-I l-lost.. the baby…" She buried her face in her hands and cried harder. Shadow didn't know whether to feel shocked, sad, upset, angry, or whatever other emotions he knew of about this situation.

He could feel all of them mixed together, but he didn't know which one would affect him first. He sighed and puts both of his hands on Pandora's shaking shoulders to comfort her.

"What happened?" he asked. Pandora didn't want to tell Shadow yet, so instead, she turned to face him and buried her face into his white chest, crying her whole heart out.

Shadow had no idea on what to do except wrap his arms around her shaking form and hold her close to him in an attempt to comfort her.

"You can tell me, you know… remember? No secrets." he said as he slowly stroked the yellow hedgie's long quills. Pandora seemed to calm down a bit, but still sobbed like her heart was torn into pieces as she tried to get the words to come out.

**Flashback/Pandora's explanation: 55 years ago…**

Pandora's POV:

_Remember when G.U.N. came and they destroyed everything… taking us and Cedric on board their battleship? When most of us escaped, you were thought to be dead Shadow. You and Hazard both..._

_After we were convinced of that fact, I had to stay healthy for the baby's sake. Yes, all of the projects knew eventually that I was carrying your child Shads.. But Silva…. Every time I passed by him, he would look nervous. I didn't understand why he would be, I mean, it's wasn't like _he_ got me pregnant. I convinced myself that he was probably nervous about something else, but that wasn't likely._

_Five months late, when my stomach started bulging… Silva came up to me…_

Normal POV:

"Pandora, we need to talk." said Silva to the yellow hedgehog in a slightly serious tone. Pandora stared blankly at the panther for a few minutes. She had been on her way for her monthly check-up with Celeste and didn't want to be late. Habitually scratching her side due to the overstretched green sweater, Pandora asked, "About what?"

Silva took in a slow, deep breath and rubbed the back of his head. "About," he muttered. "…….Important matters."

Pandora sighed. "I can't right now, I have an appointment with-" She was about to walk around Silva, but Silva swiftly moved in front of her, blocking her way.

"This is _really_ important. I think it best if you should be the first to know." His voice sounded urgent this time. Pandora shook her head and simply walked around the panther again. She then paused in her footsteps, looked back at Silva and said, "Silva… I'm sorry, but-"

"It's about Shadow!" Silva exclaimed. The yellow hedgie's eyes widened. Did Silva know something about Shadow that she didn't?

"I don't think he's dead." the panther continued. He turned to face Pandora, who by now was awestruck about the subject, a look of urgency and sadness was plastered on his face. "He could be alive… I've… been having strange dreams… with him in them all."

This sparked the hedgehog's interest a notch. "Let me guess. You want to tell me what they are and expect me to tell you what they mean, correct?" she asked, interestingly. Silva's face tensed, then faced the metal floor of the lab, nodding. "Well…" Silva quickly looked up at Pandora at this point. "… I guess the appointment will have to wait."

Silva turned around to face a blank wall as if it was the most fascinating thing on Earth. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. I can always go later; I'm sure Celeste wouldn't mind waiting until then." Pandora assured. She couldn't tell, but if she saw Silva's front, she would have noticed that he was staring at his hands, flexing his fingers every now and then. The pregnant hedgie leaned to one side to try to get a better look at his face, but to no avail. "Silva?" she questioned. "Are you-"

Silva muttered something, but it was barely audible to Pandora's ears. She then noticed a red aura surrounding his hands with claws bared. Before she knew what would happen…

_**Flashback/Explanation Interruption**_

"Shadow! Pandora!" exclaimed the indigo rabbit who had just entered the room through the door, which was already open. Shadow glared at Fusion, not liking the fact that he had just interrupted Pandora. The said yellow hedgehog was stifling a few sobs at this point.

Fusion looked back and forth between the two hedgies, looking confused. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked.

Shadow looked down at Pandora, who just slowly shook her head, telling him to say 'no'. "No," he answered in monotone. "Not at all."

"Oh. That's good." Fusion said in relief. Shadow raised an eyebrow at him. "Celeste just came back."

"And?"

"Well, this time she brought someone with her."

Pandora seemed surprised by this news as she started to dry her eyes. Shadow didn't look too impressed, but urged the rabbit to continue anyway.

Fusion sighed, then said, "She brought back some sort of girl…. a _bat_ girl, with a wounded chest."

Both hedgehogs' eyes widened. They both knew who he was talking about; the question was:

_Why was she here?_

* * *

**Hmm... things are starting to get interesting. Be prepared for the next chapter! ;) Coming either sooner or later! ;)**

**Next chapter: Sonic and the rest of the team plan to go on a search after hearing about Rouge's disappearance. Will they find Shadow, too? Meanwhile, Rouge finds Shadow and learns alot about the Underground and the other projects. When she decides to explore the island, what will happen after she finds a secret room?**


	11. Author's Note

**Author's Note:**

Another author's note.... sorry that it's taking me so long to post a new chapter, but I've been busy with real life and other stuff. I'm also being done in by writer's block and my confusing chapters. Now I've been thinking since a few weeks ago (or more) and after reading my own fanfic, I noticed that the story and plot made no sense, I made Pandora a bit Mary-sue-ish, some of the characters are OOC, and a whole bunch of other flaws that I had noticed. I'm re-writing chapter one right now and I plan on re-writing the other chapters too, so that the storyline makes more sense and flows perfectly.

I probably won't be continuing this until I re-write the chapters. I don't want to do 'New Story' so, in my profile, I'll notify all my fellow readers (and/or new readers) on chapter replacements. PM me if you guys think it's a good idea, 'cause I think it is.

In the meantime, enjoy my other fanfics and check back for updates. ^^

Ja-ne!


End file.
